


Universal Chaos

by Something_clever



Series: Universal [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU Fic, Adventure, F/M, Humor, Kinda, Let Me Live My Life, OC fanfic, book three in series, maybe tension if i can freaking write it, slight crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2018-10-31 00:26:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 95,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10888080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Something_clever/pseuds/Something_clever
Summary: She’d known that the peace wouldn’t last forever, but she hadn’t quite expected it to end like this. They say everything happens in threes and Sutton doesn’t know if she’ll survive fighting on all these fronts. She really should have heeded that warning. You don’t hop through universes without collecting a few gazes along the way.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! I'm back with one last Sutton adventure! Hopefully it entertains someone out there! :)

It was warm. Sutton tilted her head up and let the sun’s rays kiss her skin as she reveled in the afternoon heat. Even if it’d been a few years, she still could never take the weather for granted. Although there was still a soft spot in her heart for gray skies and rainy afternoons, she had to admit that she liked not having to put on a jacket every time she went outside. 

She stretched her arms, hardly noticing the pull of the metal imbedded in the side of her chest anymore, and hummed quietly. Her break was almost over and it was time to head back to the building holding her last scheduled lecture of the day. Her phone chirped again and Sutton gnawed on her lower lip as she read the text and fought back a smile.

[Well we should meet up since you’re in town.]

She waited a couple seconds to reply. 

[Sure! I’m off at 6 :)] 

[I’ll pick you up then.]

Sutton scoffed in mock offense as she slung her purse over her shoulder and started heading back towards the hotel that the conference was being held at. 

[On that motorcycle? Fat chance!]

The cars whizzing by to her left forced her to pay attention to the road, putting her phone in her pocket momentarily while she crossed the street. After all this time the honking and rush of tires on cement had started to become more like background noise to her, but it filled the silence in a way she’d needed even just six months ago. Only about a block away the hotel came into view and Sutton would have to tell Steve that their conversation was about to come to an end. Another text from him popped up just as she was opening the messenger. 

[You lost a bet, remember? You have to.]

Sutton frowned, her lower lip jutting to the side in a pout. 

[Sorry! Can’t talk. Gotta get back to work, Steve!] 

[I’ll be waiting on my bike!]

She mumbled under her breath, switched her phone to silent, and shoved it into her purse as she passed through the hotel doors. He’d used an exclamation mark; he was being snarky. She didn’t have the time to inform him he wasn’t funny. 

The rest of the conference droned on. It was business as usual and Sutton only knew enough about the subject to be able to translate everything correctly. Even if she liked her job she was still happy to let her hair down and have a bit of extra time to socialize and then prepare for her flight home the following afternoon.

Untangling a few curls with her fingers as she exited the hotel, Sutton pulled out her phone to let Steve know she was all done. But two steps out the door and she spotted him leaned up against his blasted bike and grinning at her. Sutton threw her shoulders back and groaned. Steve laughed.

“Come on,” he goaded. “Don’t be a sore loser.” 

“I’m not a sore loser,” Sutton argued. “I’m just not crazy. I’ve seen you zip around before; not everyone can be so fearless.” 

He rolled his eyes and reached behind him, pulling out a sleek black motorcycle helmet. 

“I promise I’ll obey road rules. Now here, put this on and let’s go.” 

She continued to protest without any real conviction as she trudged forward and accepted the helmet. Steve settled on the front of the bike, and Sutton made sure her purse was zipped closed before sliding on behind him. After putting the helmet on Sutton hesitated a moment, her arms twitching at her sides, before she took a silent breath and wrapped them around his waist. 

“Hold on tight!” 

His voice was a bit muffled thanks to the helmet, but she snapped her head up and looked at the back of his head as her arms stiffened. 

“Remember,” she tried to say above the sudden rumble of the bike. “You promised to-AH!” 

Steve lurched away from the curb and shot out into the flow of traffic with a laugh she could hear even above her screech. 

[]

The restaurant they found themselves in was a small, mom-and-pop type establishment tucked away on an off street corner that Steve apparently knew about. It’s out of the way location left most of the seating area comfortably empty and private. It was decently kept, despite showing wear from years of business. Sutton popped another pot sticker in her mouth and chewed while listening to Steve talk about some of the unclassified aspects of his recent missions. 

Sometimes she still felt the cold slap from the reminder that she wasn’t allowed to know things. That she wasn’t special here and wasn’t privy to all information. 

“Luckily Rumlow was able to catch the new recruit by the straps.” He shook his head. “It would’ve been a nasty crash otherwise.” 

Sutton frowned as she tried to recall who Agent Rumlow was. After her adventure through universes, SHIELD had insisted on another debriefing with her that had put her in one of their headquarters for a couple days. She was sure Steve and Natasha had introduced her to some of their team members at least once. 

“Rumlow? He’s the scruffy, dark haired one?” 

Steve nodded as he ate another forkful of General Tso’s chicken. Her frown ticked down further. 

“Huh.” 

He tilted his head at her tone and Sutton snapped her gaze down to her plate. 

“What? Did you not like him from the ten seconds you met him?” He laughed lightly before his face grew serious again. “Or did he say something to you?” 

Sutton was quick to wave her fork in a negative gesture. 

“No, no he didn’t. I... just. I don’t know. You’ll think I’m judgmental.” Steve raised both his brows and Sutton sighed. “I know it’s been a few years, and it’s probably wrong of me to use movie logic still, but,” she waved her free hand around in a helpless gesture. “It’s just that he kinda has bad-guy-face.” 

“Bad guy face?” 

Steve laughed again and Sutton tried to defend herself. 

“It’s a thing,” she insisted. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s not his face exactly, but… how he looks. The way he looked at people. It made me uneasy.” 

Steve eyes immediately softened. She saw the sympathy in on his face before she realized why it was suddenly there. 

“Hey,” his tone was soft and Sutton ran a hand through her hair. 

“It’s not related to that,” she interrupted quietly. “He doesn’t remind me of Khan.” 

His posture eased slightly, though his smile was still just that pull to the side people do when they’re not quite sure you’re being honest with yourself. 

“It’s probably just his training. He’s a soldier first and I don’t think he can quite turn it off.”

“That’s probably it.” 

After that, the conversation drifted away from SHIELD and to the more mundane topics that Steve always managed to make more interesting. By the time they’d finished dinner it was starting to get late.  Sutton let out a quiet sigh as she glimpsed the last of the sun lingering at the horizon while she clung to Steve. Steve was less concerned with the sunset and more with hazardously weaving between cars he deemed too slow. As they zipped back towards her hotel, her fingers dug more tightly into his jacket and she made sure to curse all two wheeled modes of transportation. 

In front of the hotel, Sutton passed the borrowed helmet back to Steve and watched as he put it away instead of using it himself. She shook her head but didn’t say anything because arguing with him about helmet safety was pointless. If his skull was that thick maybe he actually didn’t need one. 

“Thank you for dinner,” she said. “Even though I could have paid too.” 

He smiled lopsidedly at her and Sutton felt warm. 

“Well that’d be rude when it was my idea in the first place, wouldn’t it?” 

Sutton rolled her eyes despite the fact that she was smiling. 

“Ah! You’ve always got something, don’t you? Well, fine.” She pointed a finger at him. “But just remember that you’re obligated to foot the bill now if you get any  _ ideas _ .”

He mimed drawing a cross over his heart and Sutton bit the inside of her cheek as she shook her head. The night was starting to take over the sky and though the streets were no less quiet, around the two of them it seemed to be still. She was just about to speak when Steve nodded towards her hotel. 

“What time do you fly out tomorrow?”   
“Um, late afternoon. It’s kind of nice not to have an early morning flight for once.” 

Steve’s face adopted a glint of mischief and Sutton’s smile flickered. 

“Oh no, wait. I mean it’s a red-eye! I actually need to get my stuff together before-” 

“So you have time for a morning run. Just like old times.” 

Sutton opened her mouth to protest, closed it, considered if she had a chance to win this argument, and sighed. 

“When and where?”   
  


[]

The arc reactor in her was humming as Sutton struggled to maintain pace in her run around the Washington Monument. 

_ Gosh darn Steve, with his gosh darn superhuman speed and endurance, and his gosh darn blue eyes that had made her say yes to this. _

There was literally no way that she could even come close to keeping up with him. Even though she still did cardio. Even though she was still taking self defense classes and in the best shape she’d ever been in in her life! And it was certainly infuriating that he invited her to join him only to disappear into the distance just to lap her now and again with a “not smug” look on his face. 

Sutton was breathing heavy when she heard someone coming up behind her and, assuming it was Steve, she tensed up in the temptation to stick out a leg and see if he’d trip on it. But it wasn’t Steve after all. It was a man who was breathing just as heavily as she was and Sutton almost tripped over her own feet when she realized he looked familiar. He was handsome, with warm brown skin and a friendly face with eyes that looked like they could quickly shift from cheery to soulful. His hair was trimmed in a military cut though he wore a thin stylish goatee that circled his mouth. He managed to give her a flashing smile as he kept pace with her. 

“Hey,” he managed to breath out. Sutton blinked owlishly, trying to place where she’d seen his face before. 

“Hi.”    
The sound of sneakers thundering on pavement sounded from behind them and the man’s face twisted down in annoyance. 

“Don’t say it,” he suddenly shouted. “Don’t you say it!”   
“On your left.” 

“Come on!” 

“Show off,” Sutton chimed in with a laugh. 

She watched as the man tried to keep up with Steve in a frustrated scramble that quickly died. Sutton kept to her own pace, knowing better by now. Any attempts to catch up would only be maddening and pointless. 

Steve continued on for another lap, but the other guy had stopped on a lawn, walking in circles for a moment to cool down before dropping down onto the grass. Sutton slowed herself, deciding he had the right idea, and stretched her hamstrings before idling near him. 

“Are you with that guy?” The man asked in an incredulous tone as he threw his thumb back in Steve’s supposed direction. “Why would you hate on yourself like that?”    
“He can be very persuasive,” Sutton huffed. “Also, he blew up my phone this morning until I tried snapping the thing in half.” 

The stranger laughed, showing straight white teeth and Sutton  _ swore _ she’d seen his face before. Not here though, from before. An actor? Had she seen him in a movie?

_ Important,  _ her brain supplied. Wouldn’t that make him relevant here? He had to be  _ somebody. _

“Well, sucks to be you, then.”   
Sutton snorted. 

“Oh no. I’m on a flight out of here soon. He’s not tricking me into doing this again.” 

The man laughed again, and then Steve was strolling up, hands on his hips as he looked between them, smirk still on his face.

“Either of you need a medic,” he quipped. Sutton rolled her eyes and the man raised his brows in disbelief.

“I need a new set of lungs. Dude, you just ran like thirteen miles in thirty minutes.” 

“I guess I got a late start.”    
Sutton groaned. 

“Don’t boost his ego.” 

The man seemed to agree with her, he shook his head and cast a disappointed look at Steve. 

“You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap.” He waited a beat as no one moved. “Did you just take it? I assumed you just took it.”

Sutton snickered as Steve changed the subject to ask what unit the man was with. She only just noticed the crest on the man’s sweatshirt, and despite growing up in a military community she didn’t recognize it. 

“Fifty-eighth, para-rescue,” the man supplied. “But now I’m working down at the VA. Sam Wilson.” 

He held out his hand to Steve and rose to his feet as they clasped hands. 

“Steve Rogers.” 

“I kind of put that together. But I didn’t catch your name?” 

Sam turned to Sutton and held out a hand, dialing up the charm in his smile a couple notches. Sutton smirked and took his hand. 

“Sutton Regan. The token normal friend.” 

“Well, not too normal,” Sam pointed out, gesturing to where her arc reactor had become visible with the way her workout shirt had pulled to the side. Sutton was quick to readjust her shirt. 

“Fancy pacemaker,” she explained sheepishly. 

An alarm she’d set on her phone buzzed and she hurriedly turned it off before turning back to Steve. 

“I have to get going if I want to shower and make my flight. Thanks for the reminder that all my physical training is pathetic and sad compared to you.” 

“Aw, don’t be like that. You’re able to keep up better than you used to.” 

Sutton mock glared.

“How would you know? You’re always at least three miles ahead.” 

“I was trying to be nice.” 

Sam looked amused by the exchange, his brows high on his head as his lips twisted up and Sutton shook her head, quickly checking her phone again. 

“Whatever, I better go. I’m really glad we got to meet up, Steve. Don’t be a stranger!” 

She went to hug him goodbye, but remember she was sweaty and hesitated. Steve met her halfway anyway. 

“Same goes to you,” he said. “Have a safe flight.” 

Sutton nodded, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she waved back at Sam. 

“It was nice to meet you, Sam! Please befriend this sad, old man. He won’t even go play bingo so he meets no one.” 

Sam played along and agreed to take care of it. Sutton then focused on hailing a cab to take back to her hotel. No way she was going to run all the way back. 

As the taxi pulled away from the curb, Sutton couldn't shake the feeling that she hadn't seen the last of Sam Wilson.

[]

The ground shook on her way out of the hotel. She was trying to hail another cab, her suitcase trailing behind her with her purse resting on top, when the sidewalk beneath her began to tremble. People around her paused as well, staring widely at each other and the area around them. Sutton watched in a silent stupor as the potted plants outside the hotel doors rattled and the stoplights down the block swayed. There was almost an audible rumble, but it had to have echoed up through the buildings, because it didn’t sound like it’d come from the earth. 

It only lasted probably a minute and a half, but it was enough to be startling. Sutton hadn’t experienced an earthquake in a long time and didn’t think they were a common occurrence on the east coast. 

But after a minute there were no immediate aftershocks and she had a flight to catch, so she shook off the shock and continued frantically waving until one of the cab drivers finally noticed her in the crowd. 

When she hopped off the plane in New York a bit over an hour later, the news updates on her phone were already letting her know that the earthquake hadn’t been a localized incident. Sutton frowned, opening the first article that showed up and read over the information. The earthquake, or so it was being called, had been widespread. More than widespread. Worldwide. Her arc reactor beeped as her skin went briefly cold and the airport crowd around her disappeared. 

Worldwide? A worldwide, simultaneous earthquake? Even if it wasn’t huge that just… just wasn’t possible! No way all the tectonic plates could collide at once. 

Sutton shoved her phone in her purse and carted her carry on after her, skipping baggage claim since it’d been a short trip and she hadn’t needed it. In her mind she tallied up how long it’d been since she’d gotten back from her dimensional travels and since Thor had defeated Malekith. 

About a year, she calculated. A year of relative quiet. Sure there were things that would pop up now and again but nothing huge, nothing Avenger worthy, had occurred in awhile. Sutton chewed the inside of her cheek. 

She hopped public transportation back into the city. Briefly she wondered if she should make a quick stop at the gym in her apartment before she settled in, but then decided that the jog with Steve that morning had been brutal enough. 

There were a couple of messages waiting for her when she remembered to take her phone off silent. Tony had sent a text asking if she’d gotten back alright and a warning that he didn’t think that earthquake had actually been an earthquake at all. Sutton closed her eyes a moment and rubbed at her face, dropping onto her overstuffed couch and just breathed. 

[My flight was fine,] she eventually sent back. [But I really hope you’re wrong.]

She really wanted to forget. Sometimes she actually could. But now all she could think about was that haunting warning and the image of destruction as the Avengers lie dead. Those dreams had stopped one day just as suddenly as they’d come, and she had convinced herself it was because they weren’t relevant anymore. Now she wondered if maybe she’d been fooling herself again. 

Maggie had texted her too though, so she distracted herself with reading over her message. 

“Oh! The bridal shower! Right!”    
Sutton sighed in the relief that she hadn’t missed the event, and had actually gotten a gift for her friend already. Maggie and Phillip were finally tying the knot and Sutton was an honored bridesmaid alongside Avery and Maggie’s sister. Sutton text her back that she would definitely still be there this weekend and that Maggie better be ready because she already knew what Avery had gotten her and it was hilarious. Not terrible, she reassured, just hilarious. Maggie still only responded with an unamused emoji. 

Sutton skipped through the rest of the week. She had her gift for Maggie wrapped days in advance and there was a new dress she’d gotten on sale hanging in her closet ready to wear. The spring weather was starting to get warmer, but Sutton was still glad that the dress had three-quarter length sleeves. It was a robin egg blue with white collar and cuffs, and it would do nicely at the café that Maggie was having her shower at. One might assume that given Maggie’s half shaved hair-do and sharp-enough-to-cut eyeliner that she was a bit more punk than she actually was. But it was clear given how the wedding preparations were going that Maggie was actually a huge romantic who just preferred low maintenance styling. 

The afternoon of the bridal shower, Sutton slipped into the dress, touched up her makeup, pinned a few errant curls down, and grabbed the gift and her purse before slipping out the door. 

The café was a Spanish style establishment, and it was apparently a place that meant something to Maggie, as she, her sister, and mother often ate there. It boasted a chic, unique dining experience that struck Sutton as very consistent with how New York liked things. The atmosphere was warm and generally calming, but Sutton definitely didn’t need directions from the hostess to find out where her group was. Laughter rose above the sound of music in the corner of the cafe and several tables had been pushed together to accommodate the number of people attending the party. Sutton found a seat next to Avery and squeezed herself into it. 

“Hey girl! Glad you could make it before appetizers showed up.” 

“I’m not late,” Sutton protested.

“No, I’m being serious. Maggie got here early so she ordered some, and I’m

pretty sure these ladies are waiting to hoover up whatever gets set down on the table first.” 

Sutton laughed with Avery as they settled into their chairs with the conspiratorial agreement to keep a lookout for the waiter in order to get a headstart.

Sutton was still joking with Avery as the shower quieted down into idle chatter. A few

other of Maggie’s friends and relatives had joined in the conversation and Sutton managed to maintain casual chitchat despite having never met any of them before. After a while she was truly pulled into another conversation and Avery had to wave a dark hand in front of her face to get her attention. Sutton glanced at her to see her gesturing to Sutton’s phone. 

“Can I borrow it real quick? I left mine at home.” 

Sutton perked up and unlocked the device before handing it over. 

“Sure, no worries. I’ve done that before.” 

As Avery focused on the phone, Sutton turned back to the conversation. One of Maggie’s aunts had just been in the middle of explaining how to make authentic empanadas and she really wanted to hear how the rest of the recipe went.

After Avery had completed whatever she needed a phone for, she insisted on taking a few selfies with Sutton, and Sutton was a bit jealous that Avery managed to look like some radiant, magnificent flower that had just blossomed out of rich soil while she’d perhaps managed to pull off looking Church Chic. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but all it took sometimes was another girl looking drop dead gorgeous to make you question your fashion choices. 

But still, Sutton had to admit that Avery had a knack for selfies, she knew all the right angles, and they both looked good in the ones that she decided to keep. 

“Send me those,” Avery said as she pulled her jacket off the back of her chair and slung her purse over the crook of her arm. 

“Done and done!”    
  


There was a jazzy tune, and Avery dug through her purse, pulling out her phone, and grinned. 

“Thanks, girl!” 

Sutton’s smile faltered. 

“Wait. If you had your phone, why did-”

“See ya! Bye, Maggie! I’ll text you later, yeah?”   
“What did you do!”

She scrambled with her phone, already knowing it was too late as her gut flipped in anticipation. The others around the table tittered in laughter at her antics, but Sutton knew better than to underestimate Avery. 

“Oh no, no, no.” 

She hadn’t! 

She most definitely had. 

Avery had taken a few candid shots of Sutton chatting at the table and sent a mass text out to everyone in her contact list. 

Everyone. 

[I “don’t know” who Sutton’s crush is, but I’m sure you’re here somewhere. Look at her!! You’re welcome. 

Also, hey Mr. Stark! You should definitely give Avery Johnson a raise for not giving out your personal number!]

The ladies at the table roared in laughter when Sutton muttered what her most definite ex-friend had done. She was dead now. 

Despite generally living normally and being kept out of the “Avengers” and “SHIELD” loops, Sutton still had some high profile, private numbers on her phone. For emergency purposes. And now they’d gotten spammed with her face and weren’t going to be amused. Hopefully the encryptions on her phone would block most of these numbers from being seen by the civilian people she knew. 

Crap. She was going to get a call or two about this. 

And then the replies started coming in. 

[Sorry to disappoint; I don’t date employees.]

[Shut up, yes you do. Sutton, secret crushes? What gives? I thought we were close. I taught you how to fight and everything.]

[THIS IS A SECURE CHANNEL. INVESTIGATIONS ARE UNDERWAY.]

[You look nice.]

Sutton’s heart spiked at the automated warning, but her face actually went warm at the compliment. Gathering up her purse and tossing money onto the table for her bill, Sutton quickly excused herself from the shower and made a bee-line for the exit.

“Delete,” she chanted as she half-jogged down the sidewalk. Her fingers fumbled over the screen as she tried to erase all traces of the giant group chat. “Delete, delete, delete!” 

Her screen when black and then her ringtone when off as she received a call

from an unknown name and unknown number. Sutton came to a sudden halt on the sidewalk and bit her lip, hesitating before wincing and hitting the accept button. 

“Miss Regan. I thought we were clear that this was a “end of the world” emergency number only.” 

“Director! Hi! Sorry! Yes! Well, you see, this was all a misunderstand-”

“Miss Regan.” 

“Yessir?”

“Don’t let any friends borrow your phone again.” 


	2. Chapter 2

The second earthquake struck the evening after the bridal shower.

Sutton was doing kicks at the punching bag down in her apartment’s gym; trying to keep good form like Natasha had told her while adding in a few punches learnt in her kickboxing class. When the punching bag when from shifting slightly to outright swaying she stopped to look around. Dumbbells rattled in their racks and the small TV in the corner wobbled dangerously. Sutton hoped that the building was structurally sound. Not that this earthquake was exactly huge either, but it felt a bit stronger than the last one and Sutton knew that the east coast didn’t build their homes with earthquake standards in mind. 

The one other person in the gym hopped off his treadmill and shifted uneasily. They made eye contact, confusion and anxiety present in both their faces, and edged for the exit. 

“I don’t like this,” said the treadmill guy. “It ain’t normal.” 

“Yeah,” agreed Sutton. “It’s definitely unsettling.” 

“Worldwide earthquake?” he questioned. “Nah. How much you wanna bet it’s more alien crap?” 

A shudder ran down her spine. Sutton made a brief sound of acknowledgement before she excused herself and darted the three floors back up to her apartment. 

Sutton closed the front door behind her, locked it, deadbolted it, and then leaned against it as she caught her breath. 

One time was odd. Two times and she was starting to get suspicious. 

The floor was still vibrating. Sutton distractedly put her hair up as she hit the speed dial on her phone. The fire escape outside her bedroom window was rattling and she chewed her bottom lip as she left the room to get away from the tinny, metal sound.

“Small Fry.” 

“Hey, Tony. It’s happening again.” Her picture frames rattled on the walls. Sutton tried to pretend that she couldn’t hear them.

“Yeah, I’m looking at readings now.” 

“And?”    
“And it’s not looking good for an easy explanation. There’s no epicenter. Whatever’s causing this isn’t coming from under us.” 

Sutton swallowed thickly. The ground went still again. Almost like it’d never happened at all.

“You don’t- you don’t think it’s, um,  _ the purple guy _ , do you?” 

“I don’t know, kid. Not enough data yet.” 

She let out an exasperated breath and ran her hand over the back of her neck. 

“Well, if I can be of any help just let me know.” 

“Will do, Sutton.” There was a small smile in his voice as he spoke and it made her feel a bit better. 

After hanging up with Tony she showered quickly and changed into pajamas. She tried to fill the new silence by putting on a movie while she puttered around. Sutton picked up a few things around the apartment and set some milk on the stove to heat up. She fiddled with her phone, turning it end over end in her hands as she leaned against the countertop and stared into space. Tony said that he didn’t have enough data to determine the cause of the earthquakes, but she couldn’t help but feel somehow responsible. 

Perhaps she was just trying to take all the blame when it wasn’t connected to her. 

It could be aliens again. That wasn’t impossible. But her stomach still churned the longer she thought about it and she couldn’t help remembering how she’d put off her symptoms the last time until there had been nothing they could do about them. Still, this was different. This was outside of her and affecting many more people. 

Regardless, there was a little voice in her head screaming,  _ hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!  _ But every time she tried to ask it “hurry what?” it just repeated itself. 

_ Hurry, hurry, hurry; before it’s too late! _

She opened the messenger on her phone before she could think and was typing out a message before she had enough mind to stop herself. 

[So earthquakes are def not normal. Just talked to Tony. Prob not actually earthquakes at all.]

She hit send, paused, and then dropped the phone on the counter like it’d burned her. Sutton sank down to her haunches and kneaded at her forehead.

Ugh. Why did she think he would care? She shouldn’t have annoyed him. 

The sound of bubbling finally forced her to her feet and she removed the pot of milk from the burner. Sutton added some cocoa powder to a mug and poured the hot milk over it, stirring quickly enough to get rid of any lumps. Her phone chimed and she grimaced. Steve must not be on a mission to respond so quickly. 

[Kinda wondered. Are you doing ok?] 

She typed several different responses varying from laughing off his question to an entire paragraph about why she was suddenly beginning to worry that everything that ever happened here might be somehow her fault, only to delete each one in turn. 

[I’m fine.] She finally settled on. [Just a bit worried. Feels like things have been too relaxed for too long now.]

[Whatever it is, we’ll get through it together. I’m here if you need to talk.]

Sutton groaned as she tossed her phone onto her couch before crossing the room with her mug to sit down next to it. 

“Don’t say things like that, Steve,” she whined. Taking a sip of her cocoa, she let the chocolate sit on her tongue before swallowing. The movie was still playing in the background, but she couldn’t tell what part it was on. The pictures on the screen moved in her vision but her mind was too full of questions that no one could answer and with emotions that she should really stamp out. Too complicated. Everything was starting to get too complicated. 

[]

There was a horrifying shootout and car chase in DC on the news later that week. The media didn’t have much in the way of details, but a few grainy shots from bystanders showed what appeared to be police officers at war with a black SUV. Sutton might’ve believed it was another tragic display of how twisted humanity could be, if it hadn’t been for the massive amount of damage that had been caused. Cops didn’t just open fire in the middle of the street with innocent bystanders around. And she was sure cops were supposed to stop pursuing a criminal if it looked like it would cause them to do more harm than good.

When none of the police precincts in the area took credit for the encounter, Sutton knew something was way off. But given that she now lived in this universe, she wondered if it might be a new branch of terrorists or maybe assassins that would have to be put out by SHIELD or some other superhero.

It still seemed odd to her that they would attack someone in the middle of the street in broad daylight. Not a great move if they were supposed to be assassins. 

But then again, what did she know? 

It was a relief, at least, that work didn’t require her to travel in the immediate future because with everything going on she was a bit nervous to go too far from home.

Although perhaps she’d felt relief too soon, because she was actually at work when the unusual events stepped up their game. 

Sutton was in the middle of a routine accounting meeting, standing off to the side and translating for the Deaf employee in the department, when a wave of dizziness enveloped her. Her knees buckled slightly, but she managed to keep her balance and continue signing despite the worried glances she received. She blinked rapidly, trying to keep up with what the speaker was saying while her mind also buzzed with confusion. There wasn’t time to wonder what was going on while on the clock. 

And then Bilbo Baggins walked through the office door. 

The closed office door. 

_ Bilbo Baggins. _

Sutton’s expression went from mildly confused to horrified, which didn’t quite match the translation she was trying to give. The Deaf employee frowned and then twisted to look behind him. He turned back around looking just as confused as ever and signed to her,

_ Are you ok? _

No one else could see him then? Bilbo was still there, but now he was climbing an invisible staircase, heading up towards the ceiling and calling something over his shoulder that she couldn’t hear. The image of him suddenly went from solid to fading out until he’d disappeared altogether- right before his hairy feet had disappeared behind the ceiling tiles. Sutton’s entire body shook, she was signing on autopilot and not even entirely sure that she was signing intelligently anymore. 

The arc reactor beeped shrilly and a couple of the hearing people turned to look at her. 

Sutton clenched her teeth tightly together behind closed lips before stretching her mouth into a false smile as she breathed through wide nostrils. The speaker trailed off for a moment as she gathered her notes and there was a brief silence. 

And then there was a faint rumble and the room shook. Sutton stumbled in her heels and reached out to catch herself on the wall behind her. 

It only lasted about thirty seconds this time, but everyone knew. A third not-earthquake. 

Three times meant it wasn’t a coincidence. 

Three times signified a pattern. 

The meeting was over or excused, Sutton wasn’t aware of which. She had enough of her wits about her to be able to calmly leave the office. Or at least she didn’t bolt out the door and trip over herself. Immediately she pulled out her phone and hit the speed dial. It went to voicemail and she tried to not let her fear lash out as irritation. 

“Tony. I need to talk to you. I waited too long last time and I won't do it again. I, uh, I saw something. Someone. They didn’t belong in this universe if you get what I’m saying. I need you to run another diagnostic of my molecular levels asap. I don’t,” her voice cracked, “I don’t wanna lose everything I’ve managed to build up. Please call me back when you get this.”

Sutton held her phone to her chest and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. 

_ No panicking,  _ she told herself.  _ Think about something else for a minute.  _

She went back to her desk and quickly checked her schedule. There wasn’t another meeting for her to interpret until right before she left for the day, so she used that as an excuse to take her break early. She needed to get outside for a few minutes. She needed to see that the world was still moving and everything was solid and she was still here. 

Down on the street she slipped between the crowds on the sidewalk and made for her favorite local coffee house. Or at least her favorite that was closest to work. She managed to get in and out with a grande latte, because she needed the extra caffeine right now, and decided to use the rest of her break mindlessly window shopping as she slowly made her way back to the Tower. 

A flash of color and movement caught her eye, and Sutton turned to peer into an art shop’s window. A child was inside running down the aisles and trailing paint behind them as their father frantically attempted to catch them before the bottles of paint were empty. Sutton eyed the distinct, separate colors in the places that they were uncaringly smeared together from the child’s hurried steps. 

The store’s employee remained behind their counter, looking for all the world that this had been the moment that finally broke them. Sutton stifled a laughed behind her hand. The father managed to scoop up the unruly child and her softened gaze drifted down to the window display. Most of the items were too extravagant for her inconsistent hobby. But there was a set of good quality inking pens that caught her attention. Perhaps Steve would like them. 

Her phone buzzed startlingly in her pocket and Sutton balanced her coffee in one hand as she hopped to pull it out and answer it. 

“Hello?”   
“Sutton, Jarvis pushed through your message. Your readings hadn’t fluctuated when we checked a few months ago, but we can do it again just to be sure. Are you certain you aren’t just dozing off on the job?”   
“Even if I was, Tony,” she said drolly, “you’re the last person I would admit that to. When do you have free time to see me?”   
“You can come up to the lab when you get back to the Tower. We’ll run a quick check. I might not have been so concerned if it weren’t for these odd tremors too.”

“Right, sounds good. I’ll-” Sutton paused, churning back over his last couple sentences. “How did you know I’m not in the Tower?”

“Whoop! Gotta go, Small Fry! Hurry over, time is money!” 

“Tony! Tony did you seriously put a tracker in my phone?”

The line went dead. 

“Tony!”    
Sutton huffed and shoved her phone back in her pocket. Taking a flustered gulp of coffee, she began her march back to the Tower. 

[]

She showed up at Tony’s lab after her last meeting had finished and he ran through a quick diagnostics check which had almost become second nature. The test came back normal, just as it had before. No fluctuations. She was stable. 

“Ah,” said Sutton as Tony put the reader away. “I’m just going crazy then. Great. I guess I sort of always knew this day would come.”

“This is the part where I’m supposed to reassure you that’s not true, right?”

“Tony,” Sutton asked with a flutter of her lashes. “Have I ever told you how incredibly, wonderfully, imaginatively, thoroughly, spectacularly, unbelievably, hilariously funny you are?”  
Tony grimaced as he made a shooing motion with his hand.

“Ok, ok. Sheesh. You make my awesomeness sound like an annoying thing.”

He sat down on a bench across from her and Sutton shifted to plop down next to him. She dropped her head onto his shoulder and let out a long sigh. 

“Level with me, Tony. What are the tremors?”

Tony rubbed at the bridge of his nose and peeked an eye open to look at her. Sutton furrowed her brow in seriousness and silently prompted him to speak. 

“I’m not one-hundred percent sure,” he said. “But it could be those dimensional walls.”

Sutton went stiff. 

“They’re still weakening? I thought they would recover over time.”

“Unless something else is affecting them.”

“Like...like trying to get through?”

“I don’t know, kid. I don’t know.” 

Sutton stayed leaning up against Tony’s side for a little while longer.

[]

That night she dreamt of heat and destruction and stars. Dreams that had been nearly forgotten and buried down under the routine of life. After so long without them they felt sharper than she remembered; with more teeth and biting and a snapping ire that chomped at her heels as she attempted to escape them. 

_ “You should have listened. Now time is short.” _

She woke clammy and pale, only being able to hold onto the feelings and message of the dream but none of the specifics. Her bedding was too warm so she kicked herself free of it as she stared up at her ceiling. Pale light shone through her window, bathing her in an early morning glow. It settled her nerves a bit and she took a few deep steadying breaths like she’d been taught. 

There didn’t appear to be any more incidents that day, which Sutton was grateful for. It was her day off and she’d rather not spend it worrying about possible dimensional rifts or dreams and hallucinations. She did worry about those things, obviously, but at least nothing else actually happened. 

That morning she went to her kickboxing class and then picked up a pizza for dinner that evening. There didn’t seem to be any updates on recent events in the news and she figured that was possibly a good thing. No news was good news and all, right? 

That afternoon she texted Maggie to make sure the bride-to-be was still mentally sane for the time being and then let Avery know so they didn’t bombard the woman with hounding texts. Avery wanted to meet up the next day, if Sutton was available, to go check out a thrift store that had just opened. Sutton readily agreed. If there was one thing she enjoyed in any universe, it was a good deal. Especially living in New York. 

In the evening she popped the pizza in the oven and changed out of her clothes into her nightwear- a simple camisole and shorts, and wrapped up in a too big cardigan that was warm despite constantly falling off one shoulder. 

One evening of relaxation was all she needed. To just put on a movie, unwind, and let only her apartment exist before she started everything over for the next week. Sutton told herself that she couldn’t think about all the disturbances happening until at least the next day. Then she’d hit the ground running and work to untangle all these threads. But not tonight. 

With a plate full of gooey pizza slices and a mug of hot chocolate, Sutton settled on her couch and let Beauty and the Beast run in the background as she played on her phone. 

[]

There was a persistent banging at her door that carried the sharp  _ crack _ of importance every time knuckles met wood.

_ Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! _

Sutton looked up from her phone towards the door then back down at her attire. Her legs were almost bare in her shorts and her arc reactor was prominently peeking out of her camisole. Of course someone would be pounding on her door now.

“Sutton? Sutton Regan?”

With a sigh she set down her mug of cocoa and stood from her couch to shuffle to the front door.

“Who is it?” she called through the door.

The knocking stopped. Sutton stood on her tiptoes to peer through the peephole.

“Agent Axel Ladino, ma’am. I need to speak with you.”

Axel Ladino? Sutton squinted and lowered herself back to her heels. She leaned against the door, still not opening it as she tried to think of a reason he could be paying her a visit at this time of night. He hadn’t come around since she’d been back from her universe hopping. Honestly, she’d almost forgotten about him altogether. Mostly she just remembered that he had tried to buddy up to her per SHIELD’s orders to be an unofficial nanny. But why show back up now? She hadn’t gotten a call from the intelligence agency saying that they were sending anyone over. 

“Right,” she called through the door. “From SHIELD. No offense, but it’s kind of late.”

“I’m afraid it’s important. There’s been a breach in SHIELD and we have reason to believe you’re a potential target. I’ve been sent to make sure you get to a safe location. If you could just open the door?”

The reactor beeped as it registered her rush of adrenaline and sped up her heart rate.

She slowly undid the deadbolt and then unlatched the door as she readjusted her cardigan to cover her bare shoulder. Axel Ladino looked the same as the last time she’d seen him over a year ago. His hair was still styled carefully in that slicked up fashion and his posture still spoke of an unreleased energy. The only difference now was that he was actually in a uniform. He smiled politely at her and nodded in greeting.

“Thank you,” he said. “Now if you’ll just come with me, we’ll make sure you’re all safe.”

“Whoa; wait, wait, wait,” said Sutton. “What’s going on? What do you mean a breach in SHIELD? Did someone hack their files and get my social security number, or did someone take over headquarters? Just what kind of breach are we talking about here?”

Axel frowned.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve just got orders. There’s been a recent string of threats and there are several different people at a high level of risk; you included. Now we really need to go. We haven’t had the chance to vet everyone, and there could be a team to apprehend you on the way.”

“What?” The world almost seemed to slow. Sutton held her forehead and the door as the information sank in. “After me,” she questioned. “No way- that- but who would want me?”

“With your ability, plenty of people,” Axel insisted. “Now, please, time is of the essence.”

He placed a hand on her shoulder to escort her out, and Sutton rolled her shoulder to drop his hand. 

“No, I-” 

She couldn’t think with him rushing her like this and she already felt like her feet had suddenly gone numb. A breach in SHIELD? That-that couldn’t be right. Was all her information out now? Free for nefarious characters to get ahold of? How many people did she have to be worried about now?

“Steve sent me to get you,” Axel said. His tone was firmer now and Sutton could tell he was holding back irritation at her delaying him. She took a deep breath. 

“Ok, ok,” she said. “Just-just let me put on a pair of pants.”

“We need to go now.”

“I’ll be really fast; please! I just need to throw on some pants. I promise.”   
  


She opened the front door wider to let him in and hurried the few feet away to her room. Axel stepped through the doorway and closed the door behind him.

Shutting her bedroom door behind her, Sutton started a desperate search for a pair of clean jeans and a top. Her phone went off, and she glanced down at it quickly to see who’d texted her.

“Steve?”

She paused her search to open the text. He must be texting to let her know he’d sent over Axel, and she was honestly glad for the reassurance now that she’d thought about it. Still, he’d been working with SHIELD this whole time and been feeling iffy about it; she hoped he was ok. If there really was a breach big enough to warrant this sort of action, he must be feeling awful. She’d let him know that Axel was already here taking care of her, and he at least didn’t have to worry about that.

But when she opened the text blood drained from her face.

[Don’t trust anyone with SHIELD.]

The breath caught in her throat at the ominous message. Everything was moving so fast, so urgently, Sutton hadn’t really yet questioned what had been said. Axel had mentioned something about not everyone having been vetted, but… what exactly did that even mean in the first place? That sounded a bit like a mole problem. But a mole for whom? Her gaze darted back over to her bedroom door.

[Agent Axel is here for me _. _ Said you sent him.] She replied.

She prayed that he would respond positively. That he’d write, _ “oh, right! I did send him over! Great!”  _

Axel would be one of the ok ones, right? She’d known him before. Not deeply, really; but she’d worked in the same department as him for quite awhile. 

She chewed on her thumbnail while she waited the thirty seconds it took for Steve to reply.

[Get out of there.]

There was rapping on her bedroom door. Sutton jolted and held a hand over her mouth to stifle a squeak. Her fingers tingled as she forced her tongue to thaw.

“If you open that door right now, it'll be awkward for both of us,” she called. “I'm almost done!”

“We need to leave while we still can,” he said urgently. Sutton felt hot and cold as her gaze darted around her room. There was no time. Her arms were shaking madly. 

“Almost done!”

She knew she'd come a long way practicing some self defense in her classes and with Natasha, but her bit of training wouldn't hold up against someone with years worth of experience. And Axel had to outweigh her by at least seventy pounds.

There was no time to grab anything. No time to change. In a few seconds she knew he would just knock the door down and drag her with him, mole or not.

Sutton eased open her bedroom window. Her breath caught as it squeaked and paused to eye her bedroom door. It remained closed. For now. No more hesitating.

She climbed out onto the fire escape.

The metal was slick and cold under her bare feet, the edges of the grates bit into her skin, but Sutton hurried down the staircase without a second thought. Thankfully she didn't live in one of the high rise places Tony had first shown her, but three stories up still seemed like a lot in a panic. She gripped the railing in her right hand and her phone in her left as she flew down the stairs as fast as she could without slipping to her death.

She’d made it down one flight of stairs and half of another when she heard a loud crack  and the crash of splintering wood. Then booted feet banging on metal. Sutton chanced a glance upwards to see Axel hurrying down the fire escape right behind her.

“Sutton,” he called down to her, “don’t run!”   
  
She reached the last landing and fumbled for the ladder. 

She didn’t have time! She didn’t have time for this!

The ladder dropped with a deafening crash, and Sutton skipped the first few rungs as she dropped down towards the ground. Axel gripped the stair rails and leapt over the last few steps. His feet came to the edge of the landing while Sutton was still struggling to climb down.

“Just come here,” he said. His tone sounded slightly exasperated. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

He was close enough to reach out to try and grab her. Sutton turned her head to gage her distance from the ground. 

It would have to be good enough. 

His fingers skimmed her skin and Sutton let go of the ladder.

The air rushed up from her toes; her stomach lurched painfully as she fell. She landed on the balls of her feet, only to stagger dangerously to the side and into the wall beside her. Sharp shocks of pain ran up from her ankles, but she couldn’t stop to dwell on it. Sutton pushed off the wall, phone still tightly in hand, and ran out of the alley. She heard the sigh from behind her and then the rattle of shaking metal followed by a solid  _ thump _ .

She pushed herself faster.

For probably the first time, Sutton was thankful that New York City streets were never truly empty. Her apartment wasn’t exactly in the middle of the bustle, but it saw enough traffic that she felt surely someone would see a half dressed, bare-footed woman fleeing down the sidewalk.

But the street was empty. She choked on a cry. 

The sound of heavy footsteps got louder as she ran. 


	3. Chapter 3

Sutton panted as she raced down the sidewalk. Where was everyone? This was New York! Why wasn’t anyone noticing her distress?

The concrete sidewalk scraped at her feet as she ran. There was sure to be unsavory litter on the ground and she’d already felt the sharp pain of something almost breaking through her skin a block ago. Axel was still behind her and probably gaining ground. She was too afraid to look. He’d stopped calling out to her, but she knew he hadn’t given up on catching her.

“Help! Someone? Hello!”    
“Sutton!”    
  


She shrieked. His voice was agitated. Close. Scrambling and desperate, she tried to dart down a sidestreet. 

 

A hand gripped her arm. 

 

Sutton screamed as fingers dug into her skin. And then she was being whipped around, the ground spinning below her, into an alley and up against a wall. Sutton let out an angry grunt and pulled her arm upwards, twisting it, and then yanked down. Axel’s grip was broken. 

 

He was too close! She wasn't even thinking, just reacting, as she threw a palm up aiming for his nose. Axel parried and shoved her arm back down to her side. Sutton threw a leg out and kicked the heel of her foot directly into his knee cap. Axel cursed as he stumbled backwards to keep his leg from snapping back too far.

Natasha's voice rose to the forefront of her mind.

_ Don't let up. If you can't run, don't let them get the advantage. Be relentless. _

 

She surged forward and aimed another kick. When he went to block it she threw a right hook at his jaw. The hit grazed him as he leaned back out of her reach. He laughed sharply. 

“You've been serious about this working out thing, huh? Unfortunately we don't have time for this.”

 

He leapt forward and swept her legs out from under her. Sutton found herself falling towards the ground and then sharply snapping back upwards as she was lifted by her arm. He twisted her arm behind her back and pressed her up against the side of a building before she could break his hold. Sutton struggled as Axel pried at her left hand until her phone dropped to the concrete. 

“It wasn't supposed to be this difficult.” He huffed. “We could've been in a comfortable car already and halfway to a nice base.”

“Let go of me! Someone help!” 

 

What had Natasha said about this sort of situation? What had she said! 

 

Sutton was panting harshly and her arc reactor was chirping. It sounded especially loud in the night. 

She tried hooking a foot behind his knee and yanking forward to throw him off balance, but he was too close for her to get a decent angle. Sutton twisted, throwing back a shoulder and arching her spine sharply with gritted teeth, but his hold still held tight.

“Ugh!”

“Are you done yet?”

 

Axel pressed her further into the wall with his body as he reached for a side pocket. Something glinted briefly in the low light. A needle. 

“No!”

 

He was so heavy! It was hard to breathe. Sutton tried to kick, thrash, go slack; but nothing worked. Her face only scraped down the wall a few inches. The needle came closer to her arm. 

She didn’t mean to start crying. But her text tone starting going off again and she couldn’t reach down to grab it and why was no one noticing her about to be drugged in an alleyway? 

Not drugs. Not again.   
  


“Hey man, I’m thinking the lady definitely said no.” 

Sutton could feel Axel’s grip tighten around her and she craned her head to try and see who’d spoken. 

She knew that voice. 

“Hey Sutton.”

“Clint!”   
  


Axel made a noise that sounded like a frustrated growl and Sutton thrashed in his hold once more. He let her go, but it was probably only because there was a larger threat behind him. Clint stood in the alleyway opening, wearing a pair of sweats and sipping something out of a travel mug. 

“You have too many friends,” Axel muttered under his breath. Sutton couldn’t help the watery smile that spread across her face as she wiped at her damp eyes. Her gaze drifted back over to Clint. While his posture appeared relaxed there was a sharpness in his eyes that exposed the fact that he was taking this seriously. He took another lazy drink from his mug. 

“So are we gonna have trouble or-” 

 

Almost too quickly for her to see, Axel dropped the needle and reached down to pull a handgun from a side holster. He whipped it up to point at the middle of Clint’s forehead. They were so close to each other that the barrel looked like it could’ve skimmed Clint’s skin. Clint instantly dropped his mug and made a face, his lips stretching back almost comically, as he batted the gun to the side. 

_ BANG. _

 

Sutton screamed. 

 

She heard Clint swear as he held his ear with one hand and tried to twist the gun out of Axel’s grasp with the other. Sutton could only watch helplessly as the two wrestled for the upper hand. They stumbled into the alley a bit, boots and shoes digging into concrete, and rolled against the side of the building as they fought. Sutton caught a glimpse of blood seeping from Clint’s left ear. 

Clint pushed Axel up against the building and let go of his ear to even the odds as much as he could. Sutton’s chest hurt as she saw both their hands wrapped around the weapon. The barrel jerked up, down, at her, and then quickly away. Axel was grinding his teeth together and his eyes were flashing as his arms shook. The gun jostled and lifted until it was almost pointed underneath Clint’s jaw. 

“Clint!” 

He managed to shove the gun to the right. 

_ BANG. _

 

Clint cursed again and it filled Sutton with a hot frustration that he sounded irritated rather than actually concerned. 

She stopped watching their struggle to look frantically around the alleyway. Something; there had to be something! 

Sutton darted around desperately, her dead heart in her throat as she searched. Something cold and solid hit her foot and it make a tinkling sound as it rolled along the ground. She reached down and snatched it up. An old, empty beer bottle. 

Without any hesitation, Sutton ran back to the struggling duo. The gun was still in play. Clint let one hand off the gun and threw a fist in Axel’s face. While Axel was distracted with trying to block the blow, Sutton jumped in and took her chance. 

The beer bottle came down hard on the side of his head, as high as she could reach and with as much strength as she could summon. 

The bottle shattered. 

Axel dropped. 

Clint still hit him in the temple with the bottom of the gun. 

 

For a moment there was only their gasping breaths and the faint noise of traffic. Sutton’s wide eyes left Axel when it was clear he wasn't immediately getting back up. Clint was feeling along the outer shells of his ears, face pulled into a harsh grimace, and he let out another string of too loud curses. 

“Clint?” He didn't acknowledge her. Sutton moved forward and prodded his shoulder. “Clint!” 

At her touch he turned to look at her and Sutton gnawed nervously on her lower lip. His right ear had a bit of drainage coming out of it as well. 

“Can you hear me?”   
Clint huffed. 

“I had a gun go off near my head twice,” he said loudly. “No I can’t fricking hear you.” Sutton narrowed her eyes at him and he returned the expression. “I can read lips, kid.”

“Well then read this,  _ shhh! _ ” Clint rolled his eyes. 

He bent down and picked up his discarded mug off the ground and Sutton went to retrieve her dropped phone. When she turned back around he was looking inside the mug sadly; he tipped it upside down and nothing spilled out. Sutton sighed as he let out a mournful cry.  

She tugged on his arm and gestured out of the alley.

“We should leave before more come,” she said slowly, making sure to enunciate each word. 

“Right,” said Clint. Now he was whispering almost inaudibly. “Come on.” 

 

She trailed after him as he began fast walking down the sidewalk. Sutton checked her phone. Steve had texted her a few more times, asking if she were alright and if she’d gotten away. Each text sounded a bit more concerned than the last. Her stomach fluttered.

[Got away because Clint showed up.] She responded. [He’s ok too. Not dead. Hearing isn’t good though.] 

She still didn’t have shoes on, and the cold night air hit her legs as she walked. Before she hadn’t had the mind to notice, but since the adrenaline had started to wear off she was beginning to shiver a bit. She pulled her cardigan more tightly around herself and kept pace with Clint. 

It was a bit inconvenient that Clint’s hearing was gone right now and that he hadn’t exactly learned to sign, because she had a lot of questions to ask. But it was difficult to walk and read lips at the same time and she’d rather get as far away from her apartment as she could. So she followed after the archer silently and reminded herself to thank him for saving her life later. 

What in the world was going on, anyway? There was something awfully wrong with the inner workings of SHIELD. She knew that they were an organization that operated mostly in the shadows, and that lent itself to some expectations right there, but she hadn’t anticipated anything like whatever breach was going on now. As much as Fury made her nervous, she had sort of just trusted the agency. They were on the side of good. They were well equipped and strong and had seemed impenetrable. 

_ Not a movie _ , she reminded herself.  _ Not a comic book anymore.  _

 

In real life no one and nothing was infallible. 

 

SHIELD probably wasn’t perfect in the comics either, actually. If only she’d had any inclination to read those before being forcibly moved to this universe.

She continued to follow Clint through the dark streets and watched him for any signs that he was feeling worse than he let on. The shots had her ears ringing too, but he’d taken the full brunt of the shock wave. He was hardly even staggering as he walked. Sutton wondered how on earth he kept his balance.  

Her foot came down and something sliced through her skin. Sutton gasped and stumbled while biting her lower lip to keep quiet. Hobbling over to lean against a building, she pulled her leg up to rest her foot on her knee and inspect the damage. A piece of glass was stuck in the ball of her foot. She grimaced. Quickly, she checked how far Clint had continued on, and was still continuing on. 

She wished she had something to throw at him. 

 

Taking a breath, Sutton grabbed onto the shard of glass as tightly as she could and pulled. 

“Freaking Hello Kitty!” 

 

She hissed. Blood ran out from the cut and Sutton hopped on her good foot. Eyeing the sidewalk, she groaned. She’d have to put the open wound back down on the dirty pavement to catch up with Clint. She sincerely hoped he had a first aid kit stashed wherever they were headed. 

Sutton grit her teeth and quickly hobbled to catch up. When she looked back she could see the small, dark stains of blood following her like a crumb trail. She started walking on the side of her foot to try and avoid that. Clint glanced down at her, finally noticing that she was moving oddly and frowned. He signed  _ “ok?”  _ at her. One of the few he knew so far. 

_ “Fine.”  _ She signed and mouthed back at him. 

When he noted her favoring one foot and the distant blood trail behind them his face turned cross and he made an irritated noise in the back of his throat. 

“For real?” Sutton snapped. She threw her hands out at her sides and made a face at him. “Yeah. I totally did this on purpose.” Clint kept walking. 

“Sorry! Can’t hear you! On account of saving your life!”

 

The ground rocked harshly. 

 

Sutton fell to her knees and Clint widened his stance to stay balanced. A sharp pain erupted in her temples and Sutton gasped. The concrete flickered in and out like it didn’t exist at all, and she could see a dark shape. Something moved against an almost equally dark background. The shape jerked upwards and darkness snapped out around it. The shape of the darkness was familiar. A cape? In the distance of the vision, a light flickered into existence, golden yellow against a foggy black sky. 

“Wha- Batman?”

 

Sutton was struggling to breathe as the concrete solidified under her again. The pain in her temples still raged. The corners of her eyes were damp. 

The ground continued to quake and a hand on her shoulder caused her to look up. Clint’s expression was furrowed. Grabbing her under the arm, he helped her stand again. 

_ “Ok?” _

__ _ “Fine.” _

He didn’t believe her. 

“We’re almost there,” he said. He’d found a volume that almost sounded normal. Sutton wasn’t sure if he’d been able to do it on purpose or not. She gave him a thumbs up. “Come on.” 

 

Another block down and the ground finally settled. It was just in time for them to slip inside a building complex. Clint led her to a door on the first floor and opened it with a key that he dug out of his pocket. Sutton limped inside after him and glanced around at the basic furnishings. 

“You’ve lived this close to me all this time,” she asked with a cry. Clint squinted at her a moment. 

“It’s a safe house,” he eventually said. Sutton blinked. 

“There’s been a safe house this close to me all this time?”

Clint rolled his eyes. 

 

He waved for her to follow him further and they entered a small bathroom. Clint pointed to the bathtub as he began to dig around the cupboard underneath the sink. Sutton positioned herself on the side of the tub and rinsed off her feet. The water ran black for a few moments and she made a face. Clint tossed a towel at the back of her head and Sutton shot him a mock glare. 

She gently patted her feet dry, her movements getting slower and slower. Her eyes went blank the longer she stared at the towel. 

 

A SHIELD agent had come to her home. Her safe place. He’d chased her. Pinned her. Tried to drug her! 

Sutton’s hands shook. 

Clint had almost been shot in the head. Not once, but twice. There had been another tremor. Another vision. 

She clasped her hands together tightly through the towel. Her diaphragm spasmed as she gasped for breath.

Oh gosh. If Steve hadn’t warned her, hadn’t sent that text, she would have walked out the front door with Axel and had not one suspicion. 

Her reactor beeped shrilly. 

 

_ Gah! _ She hated that! She hated that it did that every time! 

 

Her fingers gripped around the glowing blue core. 

 

“I know! I know I’m freaking out! I don’t need you to tell me!”

 

 

A hand on her shoulder pulled her attention away from herself and she tilted her head back. Clint held a small first aid kit and gestured for her to swivel to face him. 

“It’s ok, kid,” he said. His voice was still an octave too loud. “Just breathe.” 

Sutton’s face twisted in anguish. 

The comics. Hawkeye was Deaf in some of the comics. She did remember that.

 

“You almost died,” she said. Her voice lilted upwards despite trying to keep her tone even. “Twice!” 

Clint processed what she said and smiled ruefully. 

“Won’t be the last time.” 

“Because of me! And now you can’t hear.”   
He frowned at that and sat down on the lid of the toilet seat. Sutton cooperated as he tugged her foot up and began cleaning out the cut. She hissed as he dabbed some alcohol on the wound. 

“It wasn’t your fault, ok? Don’t try to take the blame for it. You’d be giving yourself too much credit.”

Sutton huffed in faint amusement and scrubbed at her eyes. She waited until he was done bandaging her foot to make eye contact with him. 

“Thank you,” she said slowly. “You saved my life, Clint.”    
He shrugged blithely.

“Nat sent me a message,” he said. “Warned me stuff was going down. She suggested I might want to check on you since I was nearby. No biggie.”  

“Well it is to me.” She sucked in a breath and let it out slowly, forcing herself to settle. “What about you?” She gestured to his ears. “Do you need help?”   
“I’m fine. Go ahead and sit down.” 

 

 Sutton dropped onto the couch in the living room. It had no give and looked like it was from Ikea or something. She grunted on impact with the cushions but ultimately didn’t move. 

One night. 

She’d just wanted one quiet night. 

 

Most likely she’d jinxed herself. 

 

Groaning, she shifted so that she could reach into the pocket of her cardigan and fish out her phone. There was a thin crack down the screen now thanks to Axel dropping it. She thumbed through her messages and informed Avery that she most likely wouldn’t make it to the thrift shop the next day. A…  _ family _ emergency had come up. It was a flimsy excuse, but it was better than telling her that a traitorous agent had tried to abduct her because she was from another universe and had unique abilities.

She sighed and closed her eyes. 

**[]**

 

Her phone ringing woke her. Sutton shifted, blinking wearily, and blindly groped for the device. The screen blared ridiculously bright as she accepted the call and held the phone up to her ear. 

“Huh?”   
“Small Fry.”   
Sutton yawned and rolled over onto her back, draping one arm over her eyes.

“Tony, hey. If this is about me almost getting abducted, look I was gonna call-”

“No, it’s not that. I-wait. What?”   
She winced at his suddenly frantic tone. 

“You called me,” she said quickly. “You first.” 

“You just used the word  _ abducted  _ in reference to yourself and you expect me to-”

“I said you first!” 

“Fine!”

 

Tony made a few disgruntled noises, she thought she heard a word like  _ stubborn _ , and then he cleared his throat. 

“I had a bit of a development with the tremors,” he finally said. Sutton lifted her arm and cracked an eye open. 

“You did?” 

“Well,” he amended, “not as much a development as additional information.”

She sat up with a grunt and rubbed the back of her neck. 

“Any info is appreciated, because I just saw Batman earlier. It’s getting weird.”

“Bat man?”

“Never mind. Continue.”

Usually he would make a quip about her being an oddball, naming off “fake” superheroes, or else he’d snort a little in dismissal. But Tony was oddly quiet and her stomach clenched. 

“Something is trying to track you.” His tone was low, serious. Sutton gasped. 

“Ah! My phone! I didn’t even think-”

“Not through your phone,” he said. “You.” 

 

If the room had been silent it was now dead. 

Sutton felt cold. 

 

“I’ve been able to pick up some readings that rebounded through the atmosphere. Something is pinging out your frequency and looking for a reply.” 

“Tony, that doesn’t make any sense. What are you talking about?”   
She heard him take a deep breath.

“It’s doing what I did when we were looking for you. If I could guess, it’s been combing through the universes, and it finally got a response.” 

 

Bile raced up her throat and Sutton threw a hand over her mouth. She swallowed. 

 

“Oh,” she said. “Right. That-that makes sense.” 

“Sutton-”

“Don’t trust SHIELD right now,” Sutton interrupted. “That’s my heads up. You prob- you

probably have a few agents in your building.”

“Sutton-” 

 

Her phone was suddenly plucked from her fingers and she whipped around. Clint was moving into the kitchenette area. He held it up to his mouth long enough to say, 

“Hey Tony. She’s safe. You know protocol. Sorry.”

“Still too loud,” Sutton called. Her voice cracked. “Give me my phone back-”

 

Clint popped open the microwave, tossed her phone inside, and turned it on. 

“Hey! What the flip, Clint!”    
  


Sutton ran her fingers over her scalp, knocking her hair out of her tie as she stared in horror at the explosion happening inside the kitchen appliance. She ran her hands down her face, pulling on the skin around her eyes.

“My phone!”

 

It was too late to save it. There were already sparks shooting through the seams of the device and an awful smell seeping into the air. Clint switched the microwave off and turned around. 

“Rule one of living on the run,” he said. “No personal phones.” 

“I could have put it on airplane mode or something!”

He shook his head, looking more amused than sorry. Sutton balled her hands into fists and scowled. That was her only means of communication with anyone! How was she-how was she supposed to call for help? 

“What am I supposed to do now, Clint? Use smoke signals? Morse code? I can’t just beam my messages into-” Sutton stopped, faltering. “Beam my-”

She couldn’t see Clint anymore. Couldn’t see the microwave that held the mangled corpse of her cell phone. 

She saw stars.

She felt a bitter cold. An oppressive silence. 

She heard a voice. 

 

_ "No. You do not get to leave-" _

 

Clint touched her shoulder again and Sutton heaved. 

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

 

She made it back to the bathroom in time to empty the contents of her stomach in the toilet. Leaning over the bowl, she panted and stared blankly at the wall as she tried to catch her breath. 

Who knew that she existed  _ and _ knew her biological frequency? Who could be messing with the already precarious dimensional walls and trying to find her from the other side? Who had the technology and the intelligence to even do that? 

Sutton heaved over the toilet once again. 

 

Only one person came to mind. 

 

Khan Noonien Singh.


	4. Chapter 4

Clint appeared in the doorway just as Sutton flushed the toilet. She moved silently to the sink to rinse out her mouth and wash her hands. He took stock of her as he leaned against the threshold and she rubbed at her face harshly.

“I missed something,” he said. 

Sutton took a moment to answer. She turned as she held her hand against her mouth for a second longer and stared at the tile floor blankly. Her thoughts were scrambled at best. 

She had to wrong. 

She  _ needed  _ to be wrong. 

 

But Clint wouldn’t stop staring and he wasn’t moving. He expected an answer. Sutton swallowed. 

“Tony found out something’s trying to break through the walls,” she said. A finger pushed against her forehead and tilted her head up until she was making eye contact with Clint. He pointed at his ears purposefully. 

“Oh, right. Sorry.” She curled her fingers tightly into fists several times as she fought to form words again. “I think I know what’s causing the tremors,” she said. “Or rather,” her voice cracked, “who.”

His face shifted at that, morphing into a wary expression as he continued to eye her. He crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Do I want to know?”   
  


His tone was attempting to be joking. He was trying to distract her or pull her out of this panicked state. But Sutton hadn’t felt this level of panic since she’d left space. 

He couldn’t break through. 

He couldn’t be allowed to do that. 

She’d already left that behind! She’d won; she’d escaped! 

 

“Kh-” Sutton cleared her throat, bit her lip briefly, and tried again. “Khan.”

Clint didn’t move. She wasn’t sure if he was trying to decipher what she’d said or if he just didn’t know how to properly react. 

“Well, sh-oot.” 

Sutton barked out a bitter laugh. 

“Not a strong enough word,” she said. Her stomach churned violently. “He’s tracking me. My body is it’s own bug. I can’t hide if I can’t leave my own body!” 

She pushed passed him and marched back out into the living room and started pacing. Maybe it wasn’t him. There was still the chance that she was wrong. Could she will herself to be wrong? Could she believe it to make it true? Did she still even have that ability? She hadn’t attempted to use it since she’d been back. 

“It’s not him,” she said aloud. “It’s not Khan. I’m wrong. What would I know anyway? That information was vague. I’m wrong; it’s not him.”

Sutton made a lap around the couch and started again. 

“It’s not him-not him. It’s not.” 

The ground gave a good shake and Clint pulled her to a stop. She blinked widely up at him and shuddered as the floor stilled. 

“Whatever you’re doing, you need to stop,” he said. “Your nose is bleeding.”   
Sutton felt under her nose and came away with a few red drops. For a moment she just froze. Maybe she actually could still use that belief thing. But if her nose was already bleeding perhaps she should try planning something instead of just winging it. She couldn’t recklessly risk any more vital organs. Releasing the tension in her body, she let out a shaky breath and faced Clint. 

“Sorr-”

“You’re not alone this time, kid. If it ends up being him, he’ll have some people to answer to before he ever finds you.”

 

She forced herself to stop and take a deep, settling breath. Clint was right. This time it was her universe. She had friends, practically family, beside her. 

She didn’t have to fight alone. 

 

The tingles of adrenaline slowly dissipated and left her limbs feeling like jelly. 

“You’re right,” she said. She made sure that he could see her mouth this time. “Thanks for the reminder.” Sutton rubbed at her face again. “I still hope that I’m wrong though.”    
He pat her on the back and gave her a grin. 

“When have you ever been right?”   
“Hey!”

 

[]

 

Thankfully there was a few spare articles of clothing in the safe house. Unfortunately none of it was exactly in Sutton’s size. Not that she was especially surprised; she was short and a bit twiggy even after developing some muscle. But she could make it work. Clint insisted that she wear something to cover up her arc reactor since it was more than a bit distinct. He eye-balled her hair too and mildly suggested cutting it. Sutton stanchly refused. Instead she dug around the bathroom, found a curling iron, and made it work with straightening her hair as best she could. 

The process felt like it took forever. Her hair was stubborn and unruly and she had to do several sweeps on each chunk of hair to even get it tamed down to a faint wave. Sutton couldn’t quite remember the last time she’d straightened her hair. It was too much work. But doing it now almost seemed somehow momentous. Insanity was trying to creep into her life once again, and this felt like some sort of defiant act. She certainly felt different when she was finished. Like a new, alien Sutton. 

Maybe this one would be harder to break. 

 

In one of the closets she found a plain black turtleneck that would hide the light of her reactor well enough, and she slipped on the smallest pair of jeans she could find. Sutton walked out of the bedroom after changing and was pushing the sleeves up around her elbows when Clint walked by and smashed a ballcap down over her hair. She grunted. 

“Is that really necessary?” 

 

But Clint was already back down the hall into the main living space and hadn’t caught her lips moving as he passed. 

“Gather what you have,” he called much too loudly. “We gotta roll out.” 

Sutton sighed. It was still early in the morning, and now that her adrenaline had been spent she could feel the tiredness creeping back in. But Clint was probably right. Or at least he’d been living this way longer than she had. She sincerely hoped that he knew what he was doing.

After slipping on a pair of slightly too big sneakers, she trotted out to the living room. Clint had a duffel slung over his shoulder and another travel thermos in his hand. He looked over her and lifted a brow questioningly. 

“I didn’t really have time to grab anything when I ran out of my apartment,” she reminded him. He only shot her a quick finger gun of acknowledgement and then gestured behind him. Sutton followed the invisible line until her eyes landed on another travel mug. A soft smile graced her face as she moved over to the counter to fetch it. 

“Thanks, Clint,” she said facing him. “You’re a lifesaver once again.”

He gave her a thumbs up and then pointed at the front door and she followed him out. 

 

Quietly, they left the safe house behind and made their way to some parking garage where Clint unlocked a non-descript four door and tossed his bag inside. Sutton climbed into the passenger seat and sipped at her coffee. 

_ Eugh. _ She grimaced and stared down at the mug, then sighed. He hadn’t added any creamer. Beggars couldn’t be choosers though, she supposed. She took another small sip as Clint slid in and started up the car. He got them quickly onto the highway and Sutton noted that they were heading out of the city. Putting her mug into the cup holder next to her, she tried signing a question to him. Clint briefly watched her, cutting his eyes over intermittently. 

“Drive? Go? Wha- Where are we going?”

Sutton nodded happily while signing  _ yes _ , bending her wrist up and down repeatedly with a closed fist.

“I’m getting you out of town,” Clint said. “With any luck, you’ll be able to meet up with Natasha and Cap.” 

She frowned at his phrasing. Holding up her pointer finger, she twisted it and then held it up against her chest.

“One? You?” She waved her hand for him to continue on. “Ugh,” Clint complained. “Now is not the time for learning. What? Only you? Alone? Yes, alone. I’ll get you a safe distance, but I’m needed elsewhere. With all that’s going down, it’ll probably only get worse before it gets better. Something really weird is going on with SHIELD.” 

Sutton chewed on her bottom lip before taking another drink of bitter coffee. She hated that he was right. 

 

But wait. 

Why go through all the trouble? 

Clint groaned when he saw her moving yet again. 

“Oh my gosh, please stop talking. I’m trying to drive. What now? Me? No. Chest? Lasers? Money? Oh! Tony, ok. Pancakes? Layers? Oh, sheesh, what, it’s a triangle now? Teepee? Building! Tony’s building? What about the Towe- Do you mean why not just go there? Ha! Yes! I’m a pro at this!”    
Sutton huffed in frustration. 

“Isn’t it obvious,” Clint asked. “I mean, it’s obvious. Tony’s bound to have some SHIELD agents lurking around his Tower, and you’d be too easy to find there. Plus, if something really is tracking you, best not to stay in one place too long, right? Gotta think like a spy, kid.”

She huffed again and slumped back in her seat. 

 

He was right again. Drat him. 

 

An hour and a half passed by excruciatingly slowly. Sutton wished she still had her phone. She wanted to let Tony know that she was really alright. She wanted to ask Steve if he and Natasha were still safe. She didn’t want to sit in a silent car that allowed her to think far too much as she went on a sudden road trip in order to keep her life.  

 

[]

 

She’d only closed her eyes for a moment, but when she opened them she found herself in a chair sitting outside a posh cafe. The murmur of people talking swelled up around her and the faint noise of traffic hummed in the background. Sutton blinked and looked down at her hands. Her fingers were wrapped around a delicate porcelain coffee cup, thumb on the lip as if she’d been stroking it like she did when she was thinking. There was someone sitting across from her at the iron rod and glass table. Sutton jumped in her chair. 

“Loki!”    
  


He was wearing Midgardian clothes, although still managing to make them look regal. The black on black suit look certainly fit his aesthetics and cut an intimidating figure. He sipped at his own drink and eyed her over the rim of the cup. 

“Sutton,” he said. “It’s been awhile.”

 

Her heart skipped a beat or two, something it hadn’t been able to do since the arc reactor. She remembered everything now. She was dreaming. 

She let go of the cup and moved her hands to her lap, fidgeting under the table where it was less obvious. 

“You changed your hair,” he commented when she didn’t respond. Her gaze flickered down to see that her hair was still straightened and she was wearing the same clothes here as she was in reality. 

“Things are a little hectic at the moment.” She bit out. “Now’s not the best time for a chat.”

“Unfortunate for you then, because I have something to say.”

Her lips pressed thinly together and her eyes went steely. 

“I already have a pretty good idea of who is trying to break through these dimensional walls.” Her voice was cold. “So I don’t need whatever vague threat or warning you have to offer.” She tilted her chin up. “You were wrong about who I needed to watch out for.” 

One of Loki’s black brows rose high on his forehead and he pursed his lips together as if trying not to laugh. 

“I was wrong? Oh my dear, if only I was. If only you’d acted when I’d prompted you to. I did try to give you more than fair warning.”

Sutton’s confident expression flickered. 

“But the tremors are-”

“Oh,” Loki interrupted, “no doubt you’re correct about those. But really, that threat is the least of your worries.  _ He _ is on his way now. You have no idea how many planets are fretting due to His movements.” 

 

She sucked in air through her nose and her skin went suddenly cold. The arc reactor, for once, didn’t beep. He had to be lying to her. There was too much going on already for her to be able to handle this. 

“You’re just trying to manipulate me again. I don’t even know if I could-could kill or erase him or whatever. If this was real, and you were serious, you would’ve let me remember all these conversations when I woke up!” 

Loki leaned forward in his seat and Sutton tried to keep the distance between them. 

“I left you with enough,” he said. “You have no excuse. I even let you keep a dream. And you can’t tell me you haven’t felt it? The rising anxiety. The sense of an impending end. You’ve been ignoring it, brushing it off, because it’s easier to not deal with and just paint me as the villain.” 

“You are a villain!”   
Sutton pushed herself up out of her chair, eyes flashing, as she glared at him. Even with her standing and him sitting she didn’t have the height advantage. 

“You attacked New York. You forced my hand into coming to this universe. You’ve plagued me with nightmares for years! And all because  _ you  _ made a mistake and can’t fix it yourself! I will not help you!”    
She was panting, hands curled on the cool glass table top, and gritting her teeth. Loki slowly stirred his drink with a spoon and took another delicate sip, though his shoulders were tense. 

“How disappointing, because I was going to offer my assistance to you.”

“What?”  

He waited and Sutton slowly sank back down into her chair as she eyed Loki warily. 

“If you’ll remember, I’m still considered dead or missing. And it isn’t me that He’s after at the moment. It’s you. Under the assumption that you would attempt to take care of ridding the universe of a true menace, I might have been inclined to help you with your little...dimensional intrusion.” He put down his cup and flicked a few strands of hair away from his face carelessly. “Of course, if that isn’t the case I’m afraid I…  _ Khan’t. _ ” 

Sutton flinched and glared. 

“You did not.” 

She attempted to calm her breathing. Anxiety wormed its way through her limbs yet again and she tapped her foot restlessly against the ground. If it were her own emotion or Loki’s influence on the dream, she didn’t know. 

“I can’t trust you,” she said. Loki rested his fingertips lightly against his chest.

“Am I really the greatest of all evils here,” he asked. “Could you sit down and have a civil conversation like this with either of the other two? Think about this. As simple as you may be, surely even you can see that you need my help just as much as I need yours.” 

“You’re overestimating my abilities,” Sutton snapped. Loki’s expression fell flat. 

“Oh, I hardly think so.”

 

And then he pulled himself up, fiddling with the cuffs of his suit idly, and looked at her through lowered lids. 

“I suggest you consider my proposition quickly,” he said. “You may have less time than you think.” 

 

[]

 

The sun was hitting her right in the face when she blinked her eyes open. Sutton

groaned and stretched her legs. She felt a bit queasy, thought she couldn’t pinpoint exactly why. The heat from the sun made her uneasy. That was unusual. An unsettled, restless sort of feeling was coursing through her. An urgency of sorts. 

Sutton removed the cap momentarily and shook out her hair. She arched her back against the passenger seat and told herself to think about it later.

Clint was still driving.

 

“Good,” he said. “You’re up again.” 

Sutton tapped on her wrist while lifting her brows in question. 

“Hmm? Oh; you were only asleep for, like, forty-five minutes.” She nodded and Clint reached down to grab a small flip phone from the center console. There was a blinking red light at the end of it. “A message came in though,” he added. “Mind listening to it for me since the only thing I can still hear is ringing?” 

 

Sutton opened the phone and Clint walked her through the login process when she gestured that she needed a code to gain access. And then the an automated voice announced the most mind boggling “warning” she’d ever heard. 

Her face went ashen and every muscle in her arms tensed as the voice abruptly finished and clicked off. 

“Well,” Clint prodded. “They usually only use that line for important stuff. So?” Sutton tried to get her fingers unfrozen from around the phone. “Sutton? Try doing your sign stuff again. Come on.” 

“Um.” She wasn’t exactly sure how to go about signing what the message had been to someone who didn’t fully understand ASL. It wasn’t exactly something that would be easy to convey via charades. She hesitated before finally moving and popping open the glove compartment. 

“What are you-” There was actually a small legal pad inside and she snatched it out along with a pen. “You’re really not supposed to see what in ther-” 

Sutton hurriedly wrote down the received message on a blank page and ripped it off the pad. Clint grabbed it when she held it up to him. His eyes skimmed the page while he tried to make sure he was also focused on the road. He laughed when he finished reading it and then cut his eyes at her. 

“Ok, that’s funny. Now what’s the real message?” Sutton shook her head. “Wait, this is serious?” His voice rose higher. A pity, because he’d actually been at a pretty normal volume. “Steve jumped out of the Triskelion and is now on the run?”    
She nodded stiffly, still processing the information herself. What in the world was going on? How could anyone at SHIELD even  _ think _ that Steve could be considered a fugitive? Steve! He was goodness wrapped in muscle and topped with golden blonde locks! And while she knew he could throw down if he needed to, Steve didn’t just flagrantly break the law for no reason. 

“Something is seriously up,” Clint said. “I thought maybe there was just a few bad apples

in SHIELD, but for this message to get sent out-” 

His voice trailed off and Sutton simply silently nodded again.

 

She was already in a stunned stupor when the sky suddenly flashed as if with lightning. 

A blue, nearly clear sky.  

 

Even Clint flinched as the blinding light sparked across the sky. A few clouds twisted oddly, as if they’d been caught up and almost pulled through a crack in the air. Sutton gasped and grasped at her seatbelt. The road fell from under them and then jumped back up in the largest tremor they’d experienced yet. She let out a short, surprised scream as Clint gasped and cursed. 

And then she screamed again. 

 

A tearing sensation ripped through her skull. She reached up to cradle her head as she panted in pain. Her eyes were open wide, staring through the car’s dash. But she couldn’t see it. 

 

There was a vast garden stretching out in front of her. It was a maze of meticulously trimmed hedges and overlarge flowers. Not just flowers, roses. Most were glossy and red, dripping their color onto the vibrant green grass. Even further in the distance she could see marching figures in red and black and what might have been the curving, pink lines of flamingos. 

And then that vision flickered, fading as it seemed like a film had been pulled back even farther, and behind the garden was another scene. Sutton choked as the searing pain in her head intensified. Giant robots battled each other under the image of the garden. A yellow car skidded into her vision and leapt up into a humanoid shape as it joined the fight. 

Layers. It was like she was viewing the worlds in layers. 

 

She was jostled sharply. With a gasp she was able to pull out of the visions until she could see the dashboard in front of her once more. The pain in her head throbbed; no longer a sharp stabbing though it still persisted as a harsh ache.

Clint glared out at the road from behind the steering wheel. 

“That can’t be a good sign,” he muttered to himself. 

 

Sutton silently agreed with him. Her stomach rolled at the thought of these events occurring more and more aggressively. And this was only added onto the fact that Steve was currently considered a fugitive of SHIELD and on the run.

How in the world was she supposed to meet up with him now? 

 

But Clint continued driving and they were already out of New York state, so it was too late to turn back, really. 

At one point he asked for her to hand him the spy flip phone and Sutton watched as he snapped it in half and then instructed her to toss it out the window. As much as she didn’t approve of littering, it was almost thrilling to chuck the plastic pieces out into the brush.

For a second she felt like she was on the run with Jason Bourne. Only Jason Bourne was actually the world’s best archer and coffee loving mess of a human. 

As they got closer to Washington D.C. Clint took an exit into some suburb and mentioned having to get in touch with Natasha for more information. She was going to ask just how he planned on doing this, but before she could get too far into her questioning he waved her off and told her not to worry about it. 

“And I don’t even need my hearing to do it,” he said cheekily. 

 

He pulled into a gas station and parked. Sutton clambered out of the car and stretched her arms and legs, trying to get the blood moving again. There had been longer durations she’d been stuck in a car, but as of now there hadn’t been many times she’d been so anxious. 

Of course there’d been that actual car chase she’d survived, but that was years go now. 

 

Sutton made use of the restroom. She loitered in front of the mirror after washing her hands and prodded at the skin on her face. It was looking pale and her eyes were a bit bloodshot. She tried patting some life back into her cheeks before pulling the ballcap further over her eyes and heading back out.

Instead of getting back in the car right away she decided to lean against the door and wait for Clint to return. It was actually a decent day, and she definitely wouldn’t have worn a turtleneck under normal circumstances. She hitched the sleeves up higher on her elbows. When he did finally come back Sutton was melting against the side of the car. She perked up, though, when she noted that he had snacks and drinks cradled in his arms.

“Get in,” he said before she could come around and help him. “We have to hurry if you

want to catch them.”    

Sutton jumped back into the car and strapped in as Clint dumped all the snacks over her and into her lap. Instead of complaining, she tore open a bag of beef jerky and started gnawing on a strip. It wasn’t in her nature to complain about food. If Clint thought she was trustworthy with the entire stash that was his fault. 

He pulled out of the gas station driving as casual as ever, but hit the gas the moment 

they got onto the freeway. She wondered just what kind of time table they were working with. 

 

They’d already made decent time before, but with Clint’s additional speed it didn’t take them long to reach the city limits of D.C. Sutton’s fidgeting amplified as they drove through traffic. 

“Ok,” Clint said, startling her out of her daze, “listen carefully. The next time I stop you’re going to walk one block straight down, turn right, and then walk another two blocks. Understand?” 

She dropped the bag of  _ Bugles _ she’d been idly eating from and scanned the streets before turning back to Clint. 

“What? You’re ditching me?”

“I can’t hear you, nod if you understand the instructions. Come on, we don’t have a lot of time.”

She nodded quickly.

“Yes, I got it. But how am I supposed to find th-”

“Go!” 

The car paused alongside the sidewalk and at Clint’s sharp glare Sutton threw open the car door and stumbled out onto the corner. Once the door clicked back shut, he pulled away from the curb and disappeared into the rows of cars heading back out of the city. She clenched her teeth behind pursed lips as she watched him leave. 

“Thanks for the heads up,” she muttered. 

  
But he’d said that they didn’t have much time when they were at the gas station, so Sutton hurried down the sidewalk. 

She really hoped that she hadn’t already missed Steve and Natasha. 


	5. Chapter 5

The knot in Sutton's stomach only grew as she hustled down the city street. There were so many people. How was she supposed to spot Natasha and Steve? Were they on foot? In a car? No one ever bothered to tell her anything specific!

She tried to keep her pace steady and as calm as possible, despite the fact that the cut on the bottom of her foot still stung and she was in a hurry.

The District of Columbia was not an area she was exactly familiar with. Even New York still seemed foreign at times. There was always that feeling of Otherness she harbored. She may know a few road names and where the library was, but she would never understand the city like a local did. This place was even worse. She didn't know where she was going or what to do next if she missed the pick up spot. There was no safety net to fall back on.

Sutton quickened her pace. Something inside her said she didn't have much time. She had to _hurry, hurry, hurry._

_Do something. Hurry!_

"Calm down," she muttered to herself. "Just follow Clint's instructions. You'll be fine."

_You're almost too late._

She was digging her nails into her palms but she was still walking at a fairly normal pace. At least normal for her. She'd gotten used to taking quick steps in order to keep up with people who had longer strides.

A hand gripped her shoulder and she reacted purely on the instinct that Natasha had drilled into her. Grabbing the arm back, Sutton twisted the hand out to the side and felt the person behind her move in order to keep the strain off of their wrist. With them off balance, Sutton spun around and jabbed her hand into their throat.

"You!"

Axel Ladino gasped and sputtered as he grabbed at his throat. The glare he shot her was chilling. He was also recovering rather quickly.

Sutton took off in a run.

What the heck! How did he even find her? What about the pick up location?

A few people had actually witnessed the altercation this time. She'd heard a few gasps and people shouting that a guy was chasing her. There was some comfort in that.

She rounded the block and could see the stretch of sidewalk she was supposed to be waiting on.

_Crap! Crap, crap, crap!_

Her turtleneck was suddenly pulled back and Sutton gagged as it tightened around her neck. She spun around with an elbow angled up to hit him in the temple. Axel blocked the blow and caught her arm, twisting it around until she was spun with her back flush up against him.

"My mission is to bring you in," he hissed in her ear. "So that's what's going to happen."

Sutton grit her teeth and glowered. There was no way she'd be able to best him physically. That was obvious. And there was no Clint around to come to her rescue.

Sutton eyed the meet-up location and ran through a list of things she could do to get there. She wondered briefly if he realized that he was putting on more of a show than he mostly likely wanted. A smile curled up her face before she quickly erased it and let herself look terrified.

"Help me! Somebody help! He's hurting me!"

The crowd of people around them suddenly buzzed. Axel froze where he stood, muscles tense, as if this were an unexpected development. He was too young or too cocky or too dumb if he hadn't anticipated this. His grip on her vanished as a couple of men and women stepped forward, their faces going hard as Sutton staggered away from her assaulter.

"Hey, buddy. You got a problem?"

"Leave the lady alone."

He may have been a trained agent, but the odds weren't in his favor in terms of numbers. If he tried to force her with him, there'd be a fight. A woman approached Sutton and pulled her further away from Axel, shooting him a deadly glare as she did so.

"You ok, sweetheart," she asked. Sutton swallowed and wiped at her eyes.

"Yeah, he just-he just came up behind me and tried to -to grab me!"

The woman's face filled with sympathy.

"You're ok now. No one is going to let him touch you again. Hey, someone should call the police!"

Sutton shook her head, subtly pulling herself away from the woman. She eyed the spot on the sidewalk, not far off now, and smiled thankfully when she turned back.

"Please, don't. I just want to leave. I'm- I'm supposed to be somewhere soon."

The woman's face twisted.

"You can't just let him get away with this-"

"Thank you! Thank you all so much!"

She could practically see the steam whistling out of Axel's ears as she took off and he was held back by the crowd. Sutton turned her back on him and ran. A shocked giggle erupted from her throat as she paced at the designated spot.

She'd done it! She'd gotten away all on her own!

There may be some attention drawn because of it, but it had worked, by golly! Maybe things could end up alright after all.

"Hey, kid, want some candy?"

Sutton halted and turned her head. A relieved smile tugged at her lips.

"Natasha."

The tension in her chest lifted slightly as she faced the redhead. Natasha was leaning out of the passenger side window of a nice looking truck and smiling mildly down at her.

"Hurry up; get in," she said. Sutton pulled open the back passenger door and jumped into the cab.

She settled in the back middle seat and clicked her seatbelt into place as Steve drove off. Leaning back against the seat she let out a long breath. She'd made it.

_Hurry. Hurry. Hurry._

Sutton placed a hand against her chest, where her heart was. But it wasn't fluttering like she thought it would be. Just phantom feelings then. Internally, she grimaced. She'd gotten away. She was with Steve and Nat. The anxious feeling should be gone.

 _Khan_ , she reminded herself. That was still an issue.

Nat turned in her seat and looked her over quickly. Sutton tried to sit up and pull all the loose pieces of herself tightly back together.

"How are you doing," Natasha asked. Sutton shrugged.

"Um, well, you know. Probably just as well as you two are. I mean, we're all kind of on the run from SHIELD now, huh? And I sort of almost got kidnapped again, but no biggy."

Nat's eyes widened momentarily.

"By who?"

"Axel, again. He was somehow able to find me. He tried to grab me after Clint dropped me off. But, obviously it's all ok!" Her eyes darted over to Steve just as he glanced back through the rearview mirror in surprise. "Are you ok, though," she asked. "I heard you jumped out of building? _Steve!"_

Steve shot a wry look back at her through the mirror.

"It wasn't exactly my first choice," he admitted. "But there really wasn't another way out."

Natasha's gaze flickered as Sutton deviated the conversation from her second encounter with Axel. The discussion clearly wasn't going to be forgotten, but Nat still smirked at Steve's admission.

"Steve has had to make a lot of uncomfortable decisions today. Jumping out of a building, kissing in public, having to go to Jersey."

Sutton snapped to attention.

"Wait, what? Kissing in pub- Did you two? I thought-" She stopped and cleared her throat. Heat had built up in her face and she swallowed down the rest of the questions that demanded to bubble out of her. "I mean, oh. Was there a, uh, particular reason for that? Just curious! Doesn't seem to fit with the other decisions you mentioned."

Natasha was full out grinning at her, something in her eyes glinting and Sutton couldn't meet her gaze. Steve hunched a bit more over the steering wheel. He might have been a tad more pink than usual.

"It was necessary," Natasha said. "The strike team was closing in; we had to avoid being spotted. And nothing makes people more uncomfortable than PDA."

"You're telling me," Steve muttered.

"That, um, I guess that makes sense." Sutton offered a bright, false smile. "I'm just glad you both got away unscathed."

Something inside her shuttered and she forced it closed. Forced the thoughts away. Now wasn't the time. She had no rights to feel anything at all. She shouldn't be feeling anything one way or the other about this.

"If it makes you feel any better," Natasha offered, "it wasn't that exciting."

Steve snapped a glare over to the redhead and Sutton flustered further.

"So, Jersey," she said. Her voice held the hint of a purposeful whine. "Why do we have to go to Jersey? Ugh."

Steve smiled.

"Finally, someone with some sense."

Sutton smiled back.

Natasha let out a quiet huff.

"Information," she replied. "That's where the location we got off this drive is. We have to actually go there if we want to find out what sent this file."

They'd finally escaped the city district and were driving out onto less busy roads. Buildings started to fall away, growing fewer and fewer in between, and Sutton felt a bit more of the anxiety let go.

"Why not just ask Fury?" She turned her gaze between both Steve and Nat in the front seats. "Is he really going to keep a secret like that at a time like this? Things are pretty messed up right now."

The truck went still. The sort of silence that can be felt permeated the cab. Sutton felt like she'd just asked a woman when the baby was due only to be met with that cold, mortified stare. Natasha swallowed. Sutton hadn't ever seen her look quite so emotional.

"Fury is dead."

No one moved. Sutton repeated the words to herself, but they sounded just as foreign as when Nat spoke them.

"What? No. No, that can't be true."

"We were there." Steve's grip on the steering wheel was tight. His voice grim. "He was shot by an assassin called the Winter Soldier. They couldn't save him."

Sutton put her head in her hands as she leaned down over her knees. It couldn't be true. But they weren't lying to her. They both looked too distraught to be joking.

Nick Fury-Nick Fury was dead.

She'd just spoken to him the other day! She'd just heard his voice as he gruffly scolded her for her phone mishap.

"Oh my gosh," she mumbled. Her voice was breathy and distant. "This isn't even over yet. How much worse-"

"Probably shouldn't finish that sentence," Natasha quipped. Sutton closed her eyes momentarily while she breathed out through her nose.

"Right."

The truck went quiet for a bit, each of them consumed by their own thoughts. Sutton watched the trees that blurred by as they sped along the road. The trees here weren't the same; weren't like the ones she'd grown up loving. These ones were full of limbs twisted at the sky that barely reached the horizon line. It made her feel like she was living on a piece of paper sometimes. Like the world only existed on this single plane that stretched out forever instead of on a globe.

"You were right about Rumlow." Steve's voice broke through the stillness. Sutton tore her eyes from the horizon. He glanced back at her briefly through the rearview mirror. "I should have listened to you."

Sutton scoffed lightly in disagreement.

"Steve, I didn't actually know. It was a vibe. I wouldn't have acted on it even if I could have. Besides, it's starting to look like it's a lot more people than just Rumlow. I mean, I never got any feelings about Axel, other than annoyance. And he- If you hadn't texted me with that warning-" Her voice trailed off as that night sprung up vivid and real. "If Nat hadn't warned Clint- Well, it was a close call. So, thank you."

Nat turned again, eyes shifting.

"How is Clint?"

Sutton's lip pressed together in a thin line.

"He saved my life," she said. "And he almost-almost got shot in the head twice while doing it." Natasha didn't even flinch.

"Not the first time. What else?"

Sutton swallowed.

"The shots went off so close to his ears. I don't-I'm not sure how much of his hearing he'll get back. There was blood, and stuff, dripping out. But, um, he was himself, at least. When I last saw him. Dealing with the hearing loss well. I don't know. Maybe it will come back."

Nat was about to respond when the sky suddenly burst twice in quick succession.

_Flash, flash!_

It wasn't just a bright white light this time. Sutton saw color. She saw fiery blues and purples reaching out like smoky, clawing fingers tearing through the clouds. Imbedded in them were pinpoints of hot white lights. And then the ground heaved. A ripple raced down the road. Several cars swerved in and out of their lanes and Steve only kept control because the cars in front them served as a warning.

A knife was stabbed repeatedly into Sutton's temple. A short cry left her before she slammed a hand against her own lips and curled into as small a space as she could in the backseat.

"Sutton?"

She opened her eyes.

There was a small boy with dark hair. He was running through some woods with a blonde girl and what looked to be a satyr. The boy pulled a pen from his pocket and leaped. Suddenly he was wielding a sword.

Behind the woods, an ocean rose up. It's currents were wild and frothing. A dark ship struggled to keep afloat as it battled the waves. Someone staggered across the deck, flailing their arms as dreaded strands of hair flew about their face.

There was-

"Sutton! Hey!"

Sutton gasped. Blinking rapidly she found herself back in the truck, still in the back seat, and trembling. Steve had pulled the truck over to the side of the road and both he and Nat were staring at her with wide, concerned eyes.

The road still looked like it was shifting, though not as violently as before.

She reached up to rub at her face, skull still throbbing, and found herself wiping away tears.

"Oh yeah," she said. Her voice was a bit raspy. "That's been happening too."

They both eyed her in worried suspicion. Sutton looked away.

"Those earthquakes have been getting worse," Natasha said.

"Not earthquakes."

Their gazes sharpened.

"What are they, Sutton?"

Her jaw ticked as she clenched her teeth. Another confession. Another admission of guilt. She was on that couch again in the Tower. Curled up and fighting passed a thick tongue to admit her wrongs.

"Tony called," she whispered. "He, uh, picked up a signal. A reading. Something is trying to-to-" She stopped to breathe. "Trying to break through the universal walls. Trying to find...me."

Another silence. Another electric discomfort. But there was nowhere to flee to now. Sutton pressed her teeth together, stiffened her upper lip, and looked up. Steve had his eyes closed, head bowed slightly as he rested his elbow on the steering wheel and rubbed at his forehead. Natasha was staring stoically at her.

"How's your knitting going?"

"Haven't really had the time lately," Sutton said, voice verging on irritated. Natasha didn't look away. Sutton grimaced. "It's getting messier." She relented. "But it's fine."

Natasha turned back around in her seat and gave Steve a look. He pulled back out onto the road and they continued on.

After it was clear that the road wasn't going to collapse beneath them, Steve cleared his throat.

"Did Tony say if he knew what was trying to-"

"There's only two people outside of this universe who would probably recognize my frequency." Sutton interrupted. "And there's only one reckless or arrogant enough to try and break through those walls to see me. I think it's obvious who it is."

Nat murmured in agreement.

"Khan."

Steve cursed quietly.

The truck grew silent again.

**[]**

Before long the truck pulled to a stop in front of a gated military base. The metal fencing was rusted and chained closed. The buildings beyond looked like they'd suffered years of neglect. They climbed out of the truck and broke through the locked gate. There was an eerie quiet to the place. A hollowness. Not just from the chipped and battered buildings, but from the base itself. As if when it had been abandoned the soul of this place had left too.

"The file came from these coordinates," Natasha said. She was holding up a sleek phone-like device and checking the readings off of it. Steve glanced around at the surrounding bunkers, looking solemn.

"So did I. This camp is where I was trained."

Natasha kept moving still searching for whatever could have produced the file. Steve slowed to a stop, and Sutton lingered beside him.

"Changed much?" Natasha tossed over her shoulder. Steve stared off into the distance.

"A little."

Sutton recognized the look on his face. For just a moment, he was back there. Back when this place was still running and he hadn't yet become Captain America.

She'd worn that same face when she'd stepped foot in her home state again.

Everything was recognizable but it felt foreign and you knew that it was wrong. It's wasn't the same place anymore. All of the parts that had made it mean something to you had been stripped away. The experiences. The people. And now it was only a space. A location on the earth that you used to be familiar with.

And she didn't know what to say to him, because she didn't even know what she'd want to hear someone say to her. Nothing anyone said could change what was. What good would comforting words do? So she just moved a step closer to him and rested a hand on his arm. He pulled out of whatever memory he was experiencing and looked down at her, but Sutton stared at the spot that had transfixed him. She wondered what he had seen.

"It still matters."

She didn't know why she said that. She didn't even know what it fully meant, but it felt as close to "right" as she could get. Hopefully he understood a bit of it.

_Your time spent here still matters._

_The people you knew still matter._

_What you did still matters._

If her statement confused him he didn't show it. He put his hand over hers and brushed over her knuckles with this thumb quickly before gesturing that they should continue on.

They searched the base. Checked every building for a sign or signal of the computer that might have sent out the file. But as far as Sutton could tell it was just an old, abandoned base. There weren't even any old computers left behind to investigate. Eventually Natasha checked her device again and sighed.

"This is a dead end," she announced. "Zero heat signature, zero waves; not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off."

Sutton rubbed at her neck as she looked around once more. She wondered what this was going to do to their mission now. But Steve's attention was focused on a bunker a short distance away from them. Natasha noticed that as well.

"What is it?"

Steve was already moving and they followed as he made a beeline for the building.

"Army regulations forbid storing ammunitions within five hundred yards from the barracks. This building is in the wrong place."

He brought his shield down on the door's lock and snapped it cleanly off. Sutton sniffed lightly, nose twisting to the side, as her eyelids fluttered and Natasha nudged her in the ribs.

There was a click and popping noise as the lights slowly came on. Obviously they hadn't been used in a while. And though it took them a few moments to warm up, they amazingly still worked. Sutton eyed the fluorescent lights as they hummed.

"There's still power coming to this place?"

"This is SHIELD," Natasha said. Her voice held a tone of surprise. There was a large, unmistakable eagle decal on the far wall in front of them. Dust covered the floor and the few desks that were left still in their spots on the linoleum floor. They moved through the space quietly. Carefully.

"Maybe where it started," Steve mused.

They continued on into a separate room. This one was filled with empty shelves and bookcases. Three picture frames still hung on the wall and Sutton caught her breath. They all paused to look at them.

"There's Stark's father." Natasha nodded at one of the frames.

"Howard," Steve said a beat before Sutton had a chance to.

"Who's the girl?"

Steve shot Natasha a look.

"You already know who she is."

He moved on to study the empty bookcases, and something flashed across Natasha's face. Sutton wasn't quite sure what it was. Chagrin maybe. Disappointment? She didn't bother asking.

The team had all watched _Captain America: The First Avenger_ in her living room, way back when. She couldn't imagine that Natasha would have forgotten that.

A test from the spy then, probably. Like her knitting questions.

Something caught Steve's eye because he was suddenly focused and moving.

"If you're already working in a secret office," he said as he pulled some bookshelves apart. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?"

There was indeed an elevator. Old, but not ancient looking. Sutton wondered who was paying the electric bill here.

"Maybe it's a Level Seven elevator," she dryly suggested. Natasha pushed through to get to the keypad by the doors and held her phone device up to it. Sutton could faintly see the holographic screen as it decided just what the code was.

"I'm not sure I'll ever get used to this future tech being real and actually working," she said. Steve shifted as he moved to enter the elevator.

"Me neither." But his tone was a bit more wry than hers had been.

Sutton really didn't want to get on the elevator. It was old. It hadn't probably been used or serviced in years. But the other two were inside and they'd glare at her if she dawdled. And she didn't think she could handle Steve's eyebrows of disappointment if she acted like a chicken about all this.

They rode the elevator down together. The musty smell was thick in the air now with no open doors to help clear the scent away. The doors dinged open again and they were met the the expanse of a great room.

It was dimmer down in what Sutton could only assume was the basement. There were rows and rows of large computers all spreading out from a central point. Computers that were as large as Sutton! Which only spoke of their age. A prickling unease tickled along the back of her neck. Natasha frowned.

"This can't be the data point, this technology is ancient."

Sutton silently agreed. The idea that this computer could even still function properly was a ridiculous thought all on its own. But something stood out from the bulky computer towers, in the central operating center. Natasha moved over to it and the hair stood up on the back of Sutton's neck.

There was a flash drive dock sitting on the operating podium.

Flash drives had not been invented the last time this technology was probably used, if Sutton remembered correctly.

"I don't know about this," she said. But Natasha had already stuck the drive into the dock.

A whirring sound grew in the room and screens on the monitors before them flickered to life. A green blinking cursor popped up on the screen in front of Natasha. Sutton could just see the glowing font reading "Initiate Program?"

"Y-E-S, spells yes." The computer started to really make noise then, like a groggy beast finally roused. Natasha grinned from where she was leaning over the keyboard. "Shall we play a game," she quipped. Her eyes cut to Steve, full of humor. "It's from a movie that-"

"Yeah, I saw it."

He must've be feeling uncomfortable about the situation too, given the way he cut Nat off. That or he was tired of being teased with his lack of pop culture knowledge.

But they all suddenly froze as a voice resounded through the space.

[Rogers, Steven. Born 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984. Regan, Sutton. Born 1990.]

There was a webcam moving, turning towards all of them in turn on it's own. The hair on Sutton's arms stood on end.

"It's some kind of a recording."

Even Natasha sounded unsure and Sutton didn't buy that explanation at all.

[I am not a recording, Fräulein.]

The computer voice spoke again and the energy in the room immediately shifted. Sutton took a couple steps back.

[I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am.]

A picture appeared on the screen.

Dr. Zola.

Sutton felt her head spin as she stared widely at the monstrous computer system around them.

_No. No way._

Natasha shifted her worried gaze over to Steve.

"Do you know this thing?"

Steve looked stern, shuttered. He was confused and trying to regain his balance.

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years."

But the computer informed them that they were wrong. That the computer was Dr. Zola's mind downloaded onto two-thousand feet of data banks. Sutton hadn't believed such technology existed. Sure it'd been explored in science fiction stories, but no person or corporation had actually mastered downloading a human consciousness into an electrical device.

Maybe she shouldn't have been surprised though.

They had holograms here and flying metal suits and aliens.

Sutton could only stand with her hands covering her mouth in shock as the computer, Dr. Zola, rattled on about how he was recruited by SHIELD and worked under the radar to further his own personal agendas.

"HYDRA died with the Red Skull," Steve insisted.

[Cut off one head, two more shall take it's place.]

Steve looked livid.

"Prove it."

And her heart might not have functioned on its own anymore, but she swore she could feel it twisting painfully as they watched the screens flash with different news footage. All examples from Zola about how HYDRA had really been embedded in SHIELD from the beginning.

She felt like the floor had been completely ripped out from under her. Like one of the tremors had hit and not let up again.

She couldn't begin to imagine how Steve felt. How Natasha felt.

Her reactor chirped shrilly as Zola proved that SHIELD would not have been able to stop his organization. About how accidents had happened. She tried not to gag as images of Tony's parents appeared for a few moments.

Everything was moving too quickly. Sutton could barely process what was going on and Zola was still talking.

Announcing that they'd be too dead to hear what the algorithm he'd created could do.

They didn't even have time to consult with each other. Steel doors started to clamp down around the elevator exit, their only exit, and Steve reacted. He threw his shield towards the doors in an attempt to catch them open, but he was too late. The shield ricocheted off the doors and he caught it as it flew back towards him.

"Oh my gosh," Sutton mumbled to herself. Natasha looked down at her phone.

"Steve! We got a bogey!"

The fear was oddly detached. As if perhaps she was just watching them all about to die instead of being stuck in the middle of it. Almost as if she didn't have the time to be truly afraid. But she had enough sense to move, and she kept close to Steve as he ripped a metal grate from the floor and ordered them all to jump down into the pit it had covered.

There was static in the air.

A sort of kinetic energy that promised to commit.

Sutton couldn't breathe.

There were two people huddled on top of her. She was pressed into cement and there was a harsh, growing whistle in the air and she couldn't breathe!

The ground buckled.

And then there was only heat and pain.

And all she could see against the backdrop of her closed eyelids were white, hot stars.


	6. Chapter 6

Ash and smoke filled her lungs. There wasn't any room left for air.

Sutton tried to gasp, tried to breathe, but there was still an immense weight keeping her pinned, her chest squashed into the ground. She cried out, panicked and afraid. It took her a moment for the confusion about what had happened to clear.

And then there was a shifting. Some of the weight lifted off of her and there was a low scraping of rock on rock. Sutton's chest finally expanded but sharp pains shot through her ribcage. The air sent her into a coughing fit, her lungs desperately trying to clear themselves of the foreign debris. The last of the extra weight was lifted off of her and all she was left with were her heavy limbs.

"Are you alright? Can you walk?"

She gasped in more air as she pushed herself up. Steve had Natasha cradled in his arms. She'd been knocked out, probably taking the brunt of the impact that Steve and his shield didn't disperse. Sutton was wobbly, but she rose to her feet and nodded. Steve adjusted Natasha's weight and nodded back sharply.

"Good. We have to move. Come on."

Steve was quick to leave the rubble of the destroyed bunker behind to get back to the truck. It was a struggle to keep up with him. Her balance was off and her head was ringing, but she scrambled, grabbing at the dirt as she tried to remain upright. Sutton looked back once.

There was nothing left. Only sparse chunks of concrete and random rods of rebar that jutted out of the chunks like broken bones.

They had survived that.

 _How_ had they survived that?

Steve laid Natasha down in the back seat of the truck before racing around to the driver's side and Sutton scrambled as best she could into the front passenger's seat. She was still wheezing, still dazed, but if Steve was rushing they probably had something to worry about. Her eyes darted up at the sky, searching for more missiles, but she saw none.

Steve threw the truck into drive and tore away from the base just as she saw faint lights appearing in the sky out of the still rising smoke.

Sutton panted and hacked a few more times, still expelling ash from her lungs. Her reactor sang out a high pitch which threatened to damage whatever was left of her eardrums that the explosion had missed. She threw a hand over her chest, pressing down on the strip of metal surrounding the reactor, and growled in the back of her throat.

"I've really got to get Tony to disable that feature."

"Are you hurt?"  
Steve glanced at her from the corner of his eyes and Sutton shook her head.

"I've been worse. Natahsa's the one who's still out."

She craned around in her seat and caught one of Nat's limp arms. Pressing against her wrist, Sutton waited until she could feel a beat.

"Her heart rate seems steady. She's at least breathing."

She noticed, then, that her own hands were shaking. Sutton turned back in her seat and jammed her fingers under her thighs to hide the trembling.

"What about you? Are you ok?"

"My shield absorbed the impact."  
Sutton frowned as Steve continued to keep his eyes on the road.

"I'm sure you're physically ok," she said. "But, I mean, my gosh, Steve. Do you-do you need a break or anything?" He had a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel and it was amazing that it hadn't bent already. "I can drive." Sutton offered.

"I'm fine."

"We just- we just found out HYDRA is alive and well. If you need a-"  
"Thank you." He cut her off sternly. "But I'm ok. We need to put distance between ourselves and that base and we don't have time for trading places. Besides, you don't know how to get to where we're headed."

Sutton backed off.

"And where are we headed," she asked instead. Steve forcefully loosened his grip on the wheel.

"Hopefully a friend's."

She paused and leaned back into the seat. He was in Captain Mode now. She exhaled slowly.

"Well, _hopefully_ this friend doesn't have as much of an explosive personality."

Steve snorted in surprise and cut his eyes briefly at her. She saw his shoulders loosen up marginally and felt triumphant.

"We only barely survive a missile strike and you're already dropping jokes."

"Hey, being alive has got me feeling pretty _dyn-o-mite_."

He rolled his eyes at that, but his lips tugged upwards all the same. Sutton's gaze softened.

"It's ok to accept help. You don't have to be Captain America twenty-four-seven, you know," she said. Steve flexed his fingers.

"Sometimes I wonder."

**[]**

Natasha wasn't unconscious for long. She let out a small grunt as she pushed herself up into a seated position and ran her hand through her tangled hair. Sutton turned as Nat blinked, taking quick stock of where she was.

"How are you feeling? Is your head ok?"  
"Never better." Nat gave her a grimace of a smile.

Sutton felt like, given Natasha's history, that statement could be more or less true.

"How's _your_ knitting going?" She tossed the question back at Nat with enough ironic humor in her tone that the spy wouldn't be too insulted by it.

"Impeccable."

Sutton snorted and turned back in her seat.

"At least I was being honest about mine," she mumbled under her breath. Her body lurched forward suddenly as her chair was kicked from behind, and she let out a quick puff of air.

"Mostly honest," she amended. The scowl she gave Nat in the rearview mirror didn't garner any apologies.

Before long Steve was pulling into a quaint neighborhood. He parked the truck at a small park and then they backtracked stealthily down twisting sidewalks. It was bright and warm and clean. It was a stark contrast with where they'd just come from.

Oblivious. It was like the world was oblivious to everything. Here she was again, her life once more being flipped over on its head and the earth kept turning. Moms were taking their kids to soccer, people were taking walks and running to the grocery store.

They'd just survived a missile explosion.

The skies suddenly burst into color again and clouds cracked in half. Sutton dropped instantly to her knees. Her head was being sawn in two. The world went fuzzy and oddly dull.

Sutton gripped her head. More pain shot through her temples and erupted inside her skull.

"Ah!"

She felt heated and frayed. There were images flashing before her. Figures of people and ghostly shadows of events that didn't belong in this universe. She clenched her teeth together so tightly it hurt, but she could still see it all even when she closed her eyes. It was an overload of information that her brain couldn't handle.

There were… so many things. It was too much.

_Too much!_

Her hands dropped to the ground. She could feel the streams of water running from her eyes down her face, but she couldn't stop herself. She cried aloud, but the visions still came. It was like a curtain had parted before her to a million different versions of the same room.

There was someone who looked like Tony in a black suit, standing on a red carpet with his arm around a brunette woman, waving to screaming crowds of people. A little boy in an Iron Man costume waved a pen at him, and he stepped forward to sign a photo.

A man in thick glasses shuffled around an office, he held a newspaper in his hand and pointed out some typos to a woman who was frowning as she smacked her hand down, pointing to the article's picture of a caped figure.

There were running hobbits and grumpy dwarves, a brooding detective with his loyal doctor, colors and lights and faces she'd seen a hundred times and some she'd never seen before. She saw- saw herself. Rocking on her knees while she cried in an empty room as she stared out at a ruined city.

Everything, it all flashed before her in a mad collage of images and sensations. She thought that her heart was going to burst this time for good. Or perhaps her mind would simply melt.

"Sutton, Sutton, come on. Come back to me."

The voice didn't match what she was seeing. Sutton gasped, heaving as she tried to fight through all the stimuli. Her eyes darted back and forth, searching for the source of the voice.

"Come on, Sutton. I'm right here. Focus."

Something was touching her. Sutton took another breath and closed her eyes. She curled her fingers and felt the concrete beneath her hands. Solid, unyielding. If she could only anchor herself down to the concrete, to the solid voice.

After another shuddering breath she opened her eyes to be met with a pair of blue ones. Steve was searching her face for the moment she was lucid again. Sutton blinked up at him and he smiled ruefully.

"There you go. You're ok. Come here."  
Sutton lifted a shaking arm towards him and he pulled her up into his chest. She clung to him, still shaking with residual pain. But Steve was strong and real. She felt safe. Stable.

"It must be getting worse," she said. Her voice was a breathy whisper. "I could see them all. So-so many places and worlds."

"You're here," said Steve. "You're not going anywhere. We're gonna fix all this."

Sutton squeezed herself closer to him before sighing and letting go.

"I will," she confirmed. "You have your own problems right now."  
Steve pinned her with a droll look.

"Pretty sure alternate dimensional villains are everyone's problem."

"Not to ruin the moment," Natasha cut in slyly, "but we should probably keep moving."

Heat bloomed across Sutton's face and Steve helped her as she struggled to quickly stand.

"Can you walk?"  
There may or may not have been two Steves in front of her. And admittedly, she was swaying but she tried to give him a thumbs up anyway.

"Great," she said. "Just like last time."

Steve pressed his lips together.

"You're wobbling."  
"Irrelevant. I can do this."  
Nat sighed as shot Steve a pointed look.

"Just let her lean on you and let's go. Sutton, don't be difficult."

Steve cleared his throat and wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her steady. Sutton swallowed.

His hand was warm even through her shirt and he was solid when she leaned up against him. Even though pain still laced up her arms and through her head, she was hyper aware of the feeling of his body against hers.

It wasn't the first time they'd been close but the way Nat was watching and commenting made it suddenly a hundred times more awkward.

They continued on. Sutton was secretly glad for Steve's support. With how the last vision had been, she wasn't sure how much more she would be able to take. There was no trace of colors in the sky now. No blazing hot stars. The clouds were smooth and perfect.

 _No more,_ she silently begged. _Please don't let it happen again. Let him fail._

Knocking on a front door and requesting sanctuary was obviously out of the question. They slipped into someone's backyard and all stood huddled on the back patio as Steve knocked on a sliding glass door. There was a moment of waiting, and then someone approached and opened it. Sutton was not surprised.

Sam Wilson.

From the jogging incident.

She sort of figured.

He looked a bit surprised to see them, though, which she couldn't exactly fault him for. They probably still looked a bit singed. Sam gave them all a curious once over and then looked to Steve.

"Hey, man."

"I'm sorry about this," Steve said. "We need a place to lay low."

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us," Natasha added.

There was a moment where Sutton wondered if he was considering just shutting the door, but it was too quick of a hesitation to actually be him wavering. Probably just more shock.

"Not everyone," said Sam. They all breathed a sigh of relief and entered his kitchen before he shut the door again.

His house was clean and well lit and… normal. It almost reminded Sutton of her family's home with its boxy rooms and simple decor. She inhaled deeply and Steve looked down at her.

"You doing ok?"

"I'm good," she chirped. "I'm actually feeling a lot better. I can-uh, probably walk on my own now."

"Oh, right."

His hand slowly left her waist. When she didn't fall over he flashed her a quick smile and nodded.

"Do ya'll need a shower or something?" Sam eyed them all as he leaned against one of his kitchen counters. "Because you look like you just crawled through a war zone. And I'd know."

They let Sutton run through first, so that Steve and Natasha could quickly fill Sam in on the situation. He deserved to know if he was willing to harbor them. Sutton made sure to be fast. There really wasn't much to be done with the sort of time they probably had. She got a towel wet and peeled off her turtleneck to rub as much of the ash from her skin as she could. Her hair was a mess. It wasn't quite straightened anymore. Some locks were beginning to crimp and spring up. There was only so much she could do with it; so she plaited it, wrapping a bit of hair around the end and tucking it through the loops in place of an elastic.

When she'd put her shirt back on and came out of the bathroom, Sam was rubbing at his head and staring blankly at the wall before him. Nat and Steve looked drained. Sutton gestured towards the hall.

"Bathroom's open."

Both Steve and Natasha got up to head back and Sutton shifted out of the way as they passed. She watched them until they disappeared behind the door and then sighed and sat down at Sam's kitchen table. Sam sat a glass of water down in front of her and she accepted it with a quiet thanks.

"So I thought you were the normal friend," he said. Teasing hinted in his tone, but there was a question too. Sutton took a sip of the water.

"I suppose normal was a bit of a stretch," she admitted. "At least here. I used to be completely normal."

Sam raised a brow at her obvious vagueness and Sutton shrugged.

"So, what," he questioned. "They try to kill you because you're Captain America's girlfriend or something?"

Sutton spluttered into her glass and choked.

" _Shh!_ What the heck? No! I am-we are not! Steve and I aren't together."

"Ok, ok. Just wondering how a normal, not-together-jogging-friend gets sucked into this sort of situation."

Sutton huffed disdainfully.

"For your information, I got dragged into this mess on my own credentials, thank you very much. I, uh, I've been places. Seen things. It was supposed to be classified, but I guess that's sort of out the window now."

"Mhmm," Sam hummed. "Sure, ok. But you like him though."  
"You're not going to even ask what I- what is this? Gossip hour?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to figure the team dynamic out."

Sutton took another sip of water and glared up at the guy who was probably destined to join them on this horrible adventure. She did not need him bringing this sort of thing up in front of the others. With a glance down the hall to make sure Nat and Steve were still preoccupied, she turned back towards him and lowered her voice.

"Listen, Steve is awesome, ok? And everyone likes him. _Everyone._ Even if, _if_ , I like-liked him, I'm not his type." Sam chuckled lowly and crossed his arms.

"Oh really? You're sure about that?"  
With a roll of her eyes Sutton dismissed his goading.

"Yes," she said. "Steve likes, deserves, someone capable and pulled together. And right now we are sort of running for our lives? So, you know. Not even exactly a good time."

He'd obviously never heard of Peggy Carter if he was asking her questions like this. But Sutton certainly knew about the woman and how amazing she'd been. Still was. And Steve loved her, as he should, even if it might be in a slightly different way now than he used to. But Sutton wasn't Peggy. She couldn't compare. And how much of a step down would that be for Steve?

Sam pushed himself off the counter with a chuckle and turned to gather up some kitchen supplies.

"Seems like you've got it all figured out. So, what exactly are your personal credentials then, if you don't mind me asking?"  
She hesitated a moment, watching him pull out a box of pancake mix and a carton of milk. Neither Nat or Steve had mentioned how much they'd shared with Sam. Sutton still wasn't completely sure who he was. But he seemed to have a good heart. There was a kindness about him that wasn't fake. And further still, HYDRA already knew all her secrets. How much worse could she really make things?

"You might not believe me."

Sam chuffed.

"Yo, Captain America is using my bathroom. There's not much I wouldn't believe at this point."

"Well." She traced an invisible circle on his tabletop, "I'm not exactly from this earth."  
Sam stopped whisking pancake batter and stared at her.

"You're an alien?"  
"No! I'm human. I'm just not from _this_ earth. I sort of got… displaced. You've heard of parallel universes?"  
"No way." Sutton tilted her head down with a look that said ' _I told you'_. "So what," Sam questioned, "you from some twisted world where the sun sets in the east and Captain America is evil or something?"  
She loudly scoffed and shook her head.

"Please, that'd never happen in any universe. And no. It's sort of the same as this world. Except, you know, there's not as many advances in technology and all these superheros are comic book characters."

"For real?"  
"For real."

Sam shook his head in disbelief. Pulling out a pan he set it on a burner and began to heat it up. Sutton slumped over onto the table. Watching Sam cook was so mundanely normal; it was wonderful. Who ever got pancakes while on the run from a recently exposed Nazi organization?

She bet the number of people was small.

He put a plate down in front of her first and then went to inform the other two that breakfast was ready after she thanked him. They'd been back in the bedroom for awhile and when they finally came back to the kitchen Sutton could tell they'd had a conversation.

She hoped whatever they'd shared helped each other.

Cutting off a piece of pancake, she soaked up some extra syrup and ate it off her fork. It was warm and sweet and, _oh gosh_ , Steve was only wearing a tank top. They were probably buttermilk pancakes and _Steve's biceps were definitely on full display and he hadn't been able to quite get all the ash cleaned off_.

Pancakes! Sutton certainly loved pancakes!

Steve was looking at her as if he was waiting for something and Sutton cleared her throat.

"Hmm?"  
"I asked if he was any good at making pancakes, but maybe there's my answer."

Her face warmed instantly and she grinned nervously as she waved her fork like a wand as a distraction.

"Oh, yep! They're good! The, uh, syrup really makes them! They're at least better than the gas station snacks Clint bought earlier."

Steve laughed softly and Sam scoffed.

"Wow. Thanks. Such high praise; no really."

Nat eyed her over a mug of coffee.

"Pancakes sure can be distracting," she said dryly. Sutton glared and swiped her hand across her neck in an obvious gesture when she thought Steve wouldn't notice.

"Nat, did I ever tell you I really like your little arrow necklace? It's super cute."

Nat rolled her eyes but didn't say anything else.

They all ate in a thoughtful silence after that. Sutton was glad for the time to re-sort herself out and put all her short circuiting emotions back in their specified containers.

Stupid Sam and his stupid questions.

When she finished off her pancakes she stood up to rinse off her plate in the sink. Flickers of pain skittered across her forehead causing her to lean on the counter for a moment and focus on breathing.

So soon? They didn't have time for this.

 _Suck it up_ , she told herself. _This is nothing._

But the pain shot down her neck like lightning and her muscles tightened painfully. Sutton gasped quietly and gripped the countertop fiercely. Her arms trembled. Her forehead felt clammy and she panted as she tried to catch her breath.

Worse, worse, worse.

It was getting worse. She was being sheared away from the inside.

"No," she murmured into her shoulder. "Stable. Tony said I was stable. I can't leave."

Her head. Her head was imploding. Sutton leaned further into the counter, clutching her head with her hands, fingers digging into her skull. Maybe if she gripped it hard it enough she could release the pressure.

"Sutton."  
Nat's voice rose up through the pain in a wary warning. Sutton gasped again as the pain amplified. This time she wasn't able to keep it as quiet.

"It's ha-happening again." She managed to force the words through gritted teeth and she kept her eyes squeezed shut as if that would help bring some relief. "You might- might want to hold onto- onto something."  
Something scraped against the floor and she could feel a presence behind her.

"Sutton-"

There was crashing as items flew off shelves and dishes clattered. The entire house buckled and rolled.

Sutton screamed.

The feeling of the countertop beneath her fingers was gone. She could feel nothing. Nothing but pain. Her hand clutched for the arc reactor in her chest.

She didn't want to leave again!

But the pain wasn't quite the same. It was doggedly focused on her skull, like a mighty pressure. Like the entire universe was trying to fit inside her head.

The visions were moving too rapidly for her to see. Like someone thumbing through a deck of cards and expecting you to be able to pick out an individual one.

Her throat hurt. She couldn't feel her legs.

And then the visions cut out and she saw explosions of color. Blues, purples, pinks and yellows. Hot stars. And then blackness. They all burst in front of her eyes like fireworks, getting closer and closer until she could feel them burning her bones.

Her fingers clawed at the reactor desperately.

"It's there, it's there, 's there."

And then she felt a pop. Or rather a burst. It flared through her and all the energy and colors drained out of her. Pouring down out of her skull and through her limbs into the floor. She could feel herself breathing again. Not breathing; wheezing and sputtering and gasping as if she'd been being strangled.

But the pressure was gone. She felt blissfully empty.

Her entire diaphragm shuddered as she opened her eyes. Vertigo struck her as she was met not with the sink, but the ceiling.

"Just breathe. You're ok. You're here."  
Sutton blinked a few times, staring up at Natasha's face in confusion.

"I'm on the floor."

"You fell over. How are you feeling?"  
She pushed herself up, although her limbs ached now more than they should have. Natasha moved back. Her hand pulled away, and Sutton realized that'd she'd caught her right before she'd made impact with the tile floor.

"I'm fine. Thank you."

The house looked as disheveled as she felt. There was actually broken glass spread across the room and a large crack through one of the cabinets.

"Maybe you should lie down for a few minutes."  
Steve was crouched down near her as well and looking concerned. Sutton shook her head at the suggestion.

"We don't have time for that." She flashed him an attempt at a grin. "Besides, it's no worse than when I was traveling before. And I didn't have the time then either."

"Are you serious?"

Sam, who was standing off to the side, held up a finger in question.

"Uh, yeah, I have no idea what just happened, or what you're all talking about, but can that never happen again? I don't think I'll ever be able to unhear that."

Sutton winced and rubbed at her throat.

"Sorry."  
Sam waved the apology away and crossed his arms over his chest.

"She's probably right about not having much time though, if what you guys told me is true."

Nat and Steve seemed to begrudgingly agree. They made her sit down while they cleaned up the kitchen of all broken glass, and then Steve and Nat finished putting on fresh clothes and fixing their hair.

It gave Sutton time to settle back down; and to think.

These tremors were going to mess up this world, and possibly kill her again if she didn't do anything about them. And Steve and Nat really needed to go dismantle HYDRA or they'd destroy the earth themselves.

Really three things at once was too much to handle. Sutton groaned.

Khan. HYDRA. She paused.

Khan, HYDRA….

What was the third thing? Why had she _thought_ there was a third thing?

A shiver ran down her spine and her stomach churned.

"There's no third thing," she told herself. She watched as gooseflesh rose up on her skin.

" _There is nothing else."_


	7. Chapter 7

The others gathered back around the table shortly. Sutton was still seated while they stood and talked, but she was too stripped of energy to try and prove anything by standing at the moment. Conversation grew more focused as they debated again on what was going on and how to react. 

Natasha stood with her arms crossed as she contemplated. 

“So, the question is: who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?”   
Steve didn’t even hesitate.

“Pierce.” 

“Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world.”

 

Sutton had no idea who Pierce was. Outside of the late Director Fury, Rumlow, and Axel she’d had very little run-ins with SHIELD agents. But this guy had to be more than an agent if he had that sort of power. He most likely was on a similar tier with Fury. As hard as that was to imagine. 

Steve shook his head then, something obviously coming to mind.

“But he’s not working alone, Zola’s algorithm was on the Lemurian Star.”   
“So was Jasper Sitwell.”

 

Her face twisted as she tried to recall who Sitwell was. And then she let out an outraged scoff. 

“The bald one with the glasses?” They nodded and her face grew stormier. “He worked with Coulson,” she said. “In the short mov- nevermind. I just never thought-” 

 

There was a moment of quiet and then Steve shook his head. 

“So the real question is: how do the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?”   
Sutton jerked in her seat. 

“Wait, me-”

“The answer is, you don’t.” 

Sam moved forward and dropped a file on the table. It landed in front of her and Sutton just eyed it as Steve reached down in front of her to pick it up. 

“What’s this?” 

“Call it a resume.”

 

He’d been on a mission that even Nat had heard about. His partner hadn’t made it out of that operation. Nat tilted her head as she drew her attention from his portfolio and up to Sam. 

“I heard they couldn’t bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?”   
“No.” Sam handed another file over. “These.” 

 

Sutton squeezed out of her seat and stood on tip-toes next to Steve to see what was in the file. It was some sort of suit. Like a jetpack, but with wings instead of jets. They looked pretty cool actually. She tugged at the end of her braid as familiarity struck her again. 

She knew he was  _ someone _ . Tyrese had always been into the comic books more than she had. He'd mentioned a superhero that'd he'd liked because the hero had looked like him. 

Now what was his name? 

“I can't ask you to do this,” Steve said. Sutton pulled out of her musing and started listening again. “You got out for a good reason.”

Sam wasn't deterred. She might even say he was excited.

“Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in.”

 

_ Wings,  _ thought Sutton. 

 

“It has to be bird themed.”

“What?”

Her head shot up as Nat looked at her oddly and Sutton gave a sheepish grin. 

“Sorry. Thinking out loud. I just, I know I know him and- Oh! Falcon!” 

She clapped her hands together sharply and grinned, pleased with herself. 

“Tyrese liked him because it made him feel like he could be a superhero too. And he was friends with Captain Americ-oh, oops. Sorry.” Sam was blinking at her and Nat had a brow arched. “Right. I'm trying not to do that anymore. I just- it was bugging me.”

Steve tapped his fingers over the top of his crossed arms as he seemed to think something over. 

“Actually, thinking about this a little abstractly might help.”

“Huh?”

He nodded at her.

“If this were just a movie, what would you guess is going to happen next?” 

 

Sutton rubbed at her fingers and chewed her bottom lip. She been trying really hard since she came back to put all the movie thoughts behind her. If there was one thing she'd learned from that experience, it was that all these worlds were their own and the people in them were independent. They didn't always follow their script. But if Steve was asking…. 

“Well, I guess it depends on where we are. Um, ok. Let's say meeting Sam was around the beginning. We've already had quite a plot twist, a bit early actually. There’s probably another one coming. You've also not really been challenged too much in the way of fighting. Uh, there'll probably be a big battle. But it has to be against someone who’s either just as strong as you or stronger.”

“The Winter Soldier,” Nat said flatly.  

“Most likely Pierce will be your main big-bad if he's so powerful. Especially since there's a sort of betrayal involved. If you're going after Sitwell, my guess is that you get him. You need that information. But, uh, whatever he has to say will probably be terrible and things will only get rougher after that. It'll either be worse than we're thinking or, or something will go wrong.”

Her words hung in the air for a moment and Sutton felt like she'd just spent a moment preaching the obvious. 

“I wish I could help more,” she said, “but I just don't know.”

“No, that's helpful,” said Steve. “We'll have to be especially on guard.” 

“More than usual,” Nat questioned in humor. 

“Alright, so next step. Where can we get our hands on one of these?”

Steve held up the folder with the information on Sam’s wings. 

“The last one is at Fort Meade,” Sam said, “behind three guarded gates and a twelve inch steel wall.”

His tone said he thought that this would be quite a feat, but when Steve turned to look at Natasha she just shrugged, nonplussed. Sutton smirked and Steve grinned.

“Shouldn't be a problem.” 

 

[]

 

Fort Meade was an Army base located in Maryland. Sam was able to get legally on the compound with his Veteran’s ID, but they were forced to sneak over a fence and pray for the best. They kept on the downlow until Sam swung by with his car to pick them up.  

The fact that Sam knew exactly which building this piece of equipment was in and exactly how to get there made Sutton wonder just how committed to the idea of retirement he’d actually been. But that just sort of fit with the superhero stereotype, didn’t it? There’s always just a part of them that won’t let them give it up. 

They pulled into a parking lot a short distance from the target building. Sutton could see the line where the base increased its security. Three layers of fences stretched in front of them that blocked a severe looking building from easy access. Nat promptly unclipped her seatbelt. 

“Pull around the back of the fence in fifteen minutes,” she said. There was a confident half smile on her face as she popped open the car door and winked at them. “I’ll be waiting.”

 

At this point Sutton wasn’t even worried. It seemed like this was a trivial, easy thing for a SHIELD agent to handle, and Nat was one of the best of the best. She stretched out in the back seat. The guys had taken the front seats on account of their height; apparently needing the leg room.

They watched Nat disappear beyond the fenceline in a calm silence. Sutton shifted. She’d been thinking a lot on the car ride down here, and her next few sentences had to be spoken carefully. 

“So,” she drawled, “after we’re done here, I need-”

“No.”

Steve’s tone was flat and final. Sutton bristled. 

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“Don’t think I didn’t notice how you phrased yourself back at Sam’s place. You’re going to try and run off on your own.”   
Sutton sat up quickly, her lips turning down.

“Ok, so you do know. Didn’t see that coming.” Shaking her head, she squared her shoulders and tried to regain lost ground. “Steve, I have to go. I’m a liability and you know it. They can track me!”   
“We’ll figure something out.”   
She threw her hands up and her eyes rolled back in her head. 

“That’s not a real answer, Steve. I’m trying to do the right thing here. And cut me some slack, I have a plan.”

Sam turned in his seat to look back at her, curiosity and amusement warring on his face.

“What’s your plan,” he asked. 

“Yeah, what’s your plan?”   
She lifted her chin at Steve’s doubtful expression. 

“Not that I have to explain myself to either of you, but fine. First, Nat gives me a gun-”

“Oh lord.” Steve closed his eyes. Sutton glared. 

“ _ And then _ I get to the nearest phone. I’ll have Tony pick me up and take me somewhere besides his Tower. Probably someplace out in the middle of nowhere so there’s less people around. And then, if either of the two people currently tracking me find me, I shoot them.” 

Sam was squinting at her when she finished. 

“Well that was one of the worst plans I’ve ever heard. No offense.” 

“I appreciate the effort,” said Steve, “But I don’t think you’ve ever even shot a gun, let alone another person.” 

 

Sutton huffed as she reached for the door. 

“Well,  _ no offense _ , but I’m not going to stick around and risk the fate of the world more than I already am.” 

The car’s door locks suddenly snapped down with an audible  _ ka-thunk! _ and Sutton gaped in shock. 

“You did not just do that.” 

To his credit, Steve looked a bit chagrined, but he didn’t move to hit the unlock button.

“Can we talk about this a second,” he asked. “Your plan is to avoid capture before going off to hide. But, how did you get away from Agent Ladino before we showed up?”   
“Agent Ladino?”   
“One of the HYDRA nazis,” Sutton informed Sam. “And I, uh, well ok first off, I  _ did _ get a good hit in. And then I took advantage of the situation and, uh….yelled... for help.” 

Steve rubbed at his forehead. Sutton guessed that he wasn't impressed.

“What if it isn’t Agent Ladino that finds you first?”   
  


A cold sweat broke out on her skin at the question. It was something that she was trying not to think about. There was still the chance that Khan hadn’t been able to break through dimensions. At least, she hoped. 

“Then I stick to my plan and shoot him.”   
Steve shook his head and sighed.

“I know you’re trying to help, but please just, stay for now? If it looks like you being with us is truly jeopardizing then we can work on something; but for now can you not run head first into harm's way?”

Sam gave her a knowing look.   
_ “You’re def not his type _ ,” he mouthed silently. Sutton pressed her lips together.

 

How many times were the Avengers going to derail her plans to help them in the only way she could: taking herself out of the equation? There was still something, some inkling, that told her she really needed to let them do this on their own. The last thing they needed was for HYDRA to be able to track just where they were. The element of surprise might be the only thing they had going for them. 

“Steve-”   
“Sutton, please. At least until we get what we need from Sitwell.”   
She groaned quietly at his pleading tone. It was hard enough saying no to him over text, in person it was nearly impossible. Especially when he sounded all sad and desperate like that. He was probably doing it on purpose, but it was working. She really had to make it seem like it wasn’t. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she peered up at the back of his seat. 

“Fine.” She bit out. “Until we get Sitwell.”

 

Sam turned back to the wheel. 

“And with that I think it’s time to pick up my wings.”    
He started the car and pulled out of the lot and Sutton moved back over into her seat so Natasha could easily slide in. 

 

She was already waiting for them outside the back doors when they pulled around. Sutton didn’t think it’d even actually been a full fifteen minutes. But Nat had the gear under her arm and she quickly dropped it in the trunk before slipping back into the car. 

“You all took your time. Thought I was going to have to come find you.”

“Yeah, as easy as you might've made that look, someone is gonna notice it's gone soon.” Sam whipped the car around and made for the main gate again. “So I'm going to skip the additional banter and focus on getting out of here.”

 

**[]**

 

They discovered Sitwell having lunch with Senator Stern. Sutton suspected that meant 

HYDRA went a lot deeper than just SHIELD. It unsettled her even more than she’d been already. Just how far up in the chain of command did they reach? And what would it take to flush out an infection like that? 

But for right now Sitwell was the priority. One step at a time. They had to discover what the algorithm did before they could decide how to react. 

Sam was given the task of making contact with Sitwell and inviting him to meet with them. A job which he accepted cheerfully. In the event that Sitwell tried to decline their invitation, Natasha was given the job of giving him some  _ incentive _ . 

 

Sutton and Steve were waiting on the roof of the building Sam would be driving Sitwell to. They were quiet as they waited for the situation to play out. Sutton picked at her nails as she glanced out over the streets far below. She cut her eyes at Steve. From the angle she was at, she could make out his profile. He looked focused and mission ready. There was a crease in his forehead as he was lost in his own thoughts. The disgruntled complaints Sutton had been harboring about his stubbornness sort of just crumbled. She wished he didn’t have to look so serious all the time. If anyone deserved a break, it was Steve. 

Sutton swallowed. 

“I’m sorry if I stressed you out,” she said. Her voice was a bit strained, embarrassed. She continued picking at her nails. “That’s not what I’m trying to do. I just- I know I’m useless on this mission and I don’t want to get in the way.”

Steve’s shoulders dropped and his head tilted back towards the sky. When he looked at her, it was like he was debating something with himself. After a moment he shook his head. 

“I know. I know you’re set on leaving, but- but I can’t protect you if you’re not here.”

Sutton halted picking at her nails and bit the inside of her cheek.

“You don’t have to; that’s not your job. Not that I don’t want- er, that I don’t appreciate-” She sighed. “Whatever this algorithm does, I can pretty much guarantee it’s going to threaten the world. And I can’t pick myself over all those people again, Steve. You’d try and do the same thing, and you know it.”

His mouth pulled down in a frustrated scowl at her words. 

“I know.”   
  


A gray car finally pulled up to the curb below them and both she and Steve stiffened. The back door opened and a figure stepped out onto the sidewalk. She could see the car pull just around the corner where Sam was probably getting ready. 

“He’s here.”

“Let’s get this party started.”   
Sutton jumped and turned around to come face to face with a confident looking Natasha. 

“When did you get here?” 

“A spy never reveals their secrets.”   
  


Sutton worried that meant Nat had been there long enough to catch a snippet of their conversation.

  
Steve and Nat went down to fetch Sitwell and make sure he didn’t run off. Sutton stayed on the roof, away from the edge of the building and out of the way. She knew they were coming when she heard the echo of stumbling footsteps and the door slammed open. Sitwell came flying across the rooftop, pinwheeling as he cartwheeled through the air. He landed with a  _ thud _ and rolled before jumping back to his feet and scrambling for his glasses. 

Steve came strolling out behind him.

“Tell me about Zola’s algorithm,” he said casually. 

 

Sutton hissed quietly. 

“Crap,” she muttered under her breath. “Crap, that shouldn’t have been hot.”   
  


Sitwell kept backtracking, trying to keep distance between himself and Steve. Nat briefly glanced over to her and winked. 

“Never heard of it.” Sitwell panted. Steve didn’t slow his steps in the slightest. 

“What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?”

“I was throwing up. I get seasick.”

The cockiness disappeared as the back of his legs hit the edge of the rooftop and he almost went spiraling over. He gasped and flailed. Steve reached out and grabbed him by the lapels of his suit and pulled him up to his face. Sitwell’s expression went from fearful back to cocky. 

“Is this little display meant to insinuate that you’re going to throw me off the roof?” He laughed. “Cause it’s really not your style, Rogers.”   


Nat shifted her stance, turning her attention more directly towards Sitwell and Sutton wished the guy the best of luck. 

“You’re right,” Steve said. He released his hold on Sitwell and smoothed out the shoulders of his suit jacket. “It’s hers.”

He stepped to the side and Nat promptly Spartan kicked Sitwell off the roof. 

  
Sutton held a fist in front of her mouth, letting out a noise that danced between being a laugh and a choked gasp. 

Steve stood with his hands in his pockets and watched Sitwell drop as Nat resettled next to him. 

“Well, what about now,” she asked. “If you actually told her maybe-”   
“Not a good time, Nat.”

“Where has that line of thought ever gotten you?” 

Steve let out an exasperated sound. Sutton wondered what conversation she’d missed. 

 

But the screaming that had been growing faint suddenly rose in volume. Sam appeared above the rooftop carting Sitwell like some avenging angel. The mechanical wings on his back spread out wide and Sam dropped him back down roughly. Sam landed effortlessly and his wings folded back into the gear on his back as he turned and blocked Sitwell’s only exit. Steve and Nat headed back towards him, looking ready for round two, and Sitwell held up a pleading hand. 

“Zola’s algorithm is a program! For choosing Insight’s targets.”

Steve stopped. 

“What targets?”

Sitwell gestured flippantly at Steve as he struggled to catch his breath. 

“You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Secretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City.” He paused and panted some more. He was still on his knees, but slowly getting back up. “Sutton Regan, Bruce Banner,” he continued. “Anyone who’s a threat to HYDRA now, or in the future.” 

 

Sutton’s heart didn’t stop its steady beating, but she felt the painful tingles of shock as they raced through her body. Steve shot a glance to her before focusing back on Sitwell. 

“In the future,” he questioned. “How could it know?”   
Sitwell started laughing as if they were all idiots. He turned a madly grinning face up to Steve. Sam moved closer as Sitwell managed to get back to his feet. 

“How could it not?” 

 

Sutton fought to keep focused as Sitwell explained how Zola’s algorithm analyzed people’s digital histories to predict their futures. Of course, of course they’d use the internet. They’d probably collected more information from everyone on the planet than she was comfortable thinking about. 

“What then?” Sutton heard Steve ask. Sitwell stopped, eyes turning down, and panted again as if he’d just realized what he’d done.

“Oh my god, Pierce is gonna kill me.”

“What then!”   
Sam gripped the back of Sitwell’s suit as a reminder. Sitwell took a breath. 

 

“Then the Insight carriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time.” 

 

Sutton closed her eyes as she pressed her hand over her mouth. She’d known. She’d known it was going to be bad. But hearing it. Hearing what their plan actually was… she couldn’t have prepared for that. 

They were willing to wipe out huge chunks of the earth’s population, _ people with nothing but potential,  _ just to secure control. 

The only sound was the wind as the team processed the information. Shock was written over all their faces.

“If that’s the case, we need to get going,” Natasha said. 

Sutton emerged from the section of the roof she’d been hiding in and made to join the group as they headed back down to street level. Steve roughly grabbed Sitwell by the arm and shoved him along. But Sitwell’s eyes landed on Sutton and widened comically. 

“You,” he exclaimed. “You brought  _ her _ along? Are you  _ trying _ to get caught? We know how to find her! There was supposed to have been an agent sent to apprehend her days ago.” 

Sutton glared. 

“Yeah, I know. I’ve run into him a couple times.”

Sitwell’s head turned to the side, his eyebrows rising high on his forehead. 

“If he’s failed that many times, he better go into hiding himself.” 

 

Steve tugged on Sitwell’s arm and forced him down the stairs. Sitwell laughed maniacally again. 

“We’re all going to die if she sticks around. Pierce wanted her alive, but if she’s only going to hinder HYDRA he won’t hesitate to pull the trigger. And when he finds her, he finds the rest of you.”

“Man, shut up.” Sam nodded in reassurance at Sutton. “I trust the Cap,” he said. And she nodded, knowing what he meant. But that didn’t stop the anxiety from clawing its way up her chest. 

She wouldn’t be used against another world. 

 

[]

 

They all piled into the car and Sam drove them out back towards the Triskelion. This time Nat squeezed in the middle seat just in case Sitwell tried anything, and it was easier to converse with Sam and Steve that way. 

Sutton couldn’t stop bouncing her foot as the car drove through traffic and out onto the

highway. They had Sitwell and answers now. They’d been successful. The other shoe had to drop soon. 

She bit at her thumbnail as the feeling of impending doom swelled in her chest. Sitwell’s words had affected more than they should have. 

 

_ And when he finds her, he finds the rest of you. _

__

_ And when  _ _ He _ _ finds her,  _ _ He _ _ finds the rest of you. _

 

Why did it fill her with terror when she'd never even met Pierce? Sutton pressed her forehead against the window and gasped. 

“What the h*** is that ringing?” 

Nat put a hand on her shoulder. 

“Sutton, you ok?”

“Fine!”

“Is it another tremor?”

Sutton shook her head. She put her free hand over the reactor and tried to ball up the panic. Tried to shove it deep down. 

“Everything's fine,” she managed to say. “Just thinking too much.”

 

Why was she freaking out? It was like she'd forgotten something. Something important.

“Is she the cause of those quakes,” Sitwell asked. His tone dripped on a disturbed disbelief. 

“No,” snapped Steve. “Don't talk to her.” 

Sutton turned away from the window, feeling mostly back in control of herself and gave Nat a thankful nod. Sitwell frowned as he eyed the front of the car.

“HYDRA doesn't like leaks,” he said. By his tone now he expected that to be profound or for them to care. 

“So why don't you try sticking a cork in it,” Sam said. Sutton let out a huff of a laugh. Nat leaned forward between the front seats. 

“Instinct’s launching in sixteen hours, we’re cutting it a bit close here.” 

“I know,” said Steve. “We’ll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the helicarriers directly.” 

“You need to drop me off somewhere first.” Sutton butt in. She rubbed at her temples. “For real this time. You heard Sitwell.” 

 

Sitwell squirmed in his seat as his face erupted in shock. 

“What? Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible idea!”

 

There was a loud  _ thump _ on the roof of the car and Sutton flinched at the noise. The window next to Sitwell shattered with a loud crash and an arm reached in and yanked him out by his jacket. 

 

Sitwell went flying out across the median. Sutton could hear him scream. 

 

Then a semi raced by and his screaming stopped.


	8. Chapter 8

Natasha sprang into motion.

"Get down!"  
Sutton startled at the harsh order, tearing her eyes away from where they'd followed Sitwell's arcing body. There was more thumping on the roof and Nat lunged forward into the front seats.

_Pop!_

Sutton jerked in her seat. Nat grabbed onto Steve's head and pulled it forward before kicking her legs into Sam's side and shoving him further towards his door.

_Pop! Pop!_

There were bullet holes in both of their chairs. Gaping cavities with the foam spilling out. Sutton sat clutching her seatbelt, too terrified to move or scream. Her arc reactor made the sound for her.

They were in a moving car. How could there be a person on top of their car!

Steve reached down and yanked on the emergency brake, causing the car to come to a screeching halt, and Sutton grit her teeth as her body pulled forwards.

The person on top the car went flying.

His body soared over the concrete and landed harshly before he flipped himself back up and slowed his momentum by gripping the road with a metal hand. Sparks flew up from underneath his fingers as he slid back on one knee. He posed an intimidating figure even hunched over. Dressed in all black with a mask and goggles covering his entire face.

Sutton swallowed.

No one in the car said a word.

It was like they were having a standoff; waiting to see who'd break first. Sutton could only hear the blood rushing through her ears.

And the high whine of a motorbike.

The door she was leaning against suddenly disappeared and Sutton screamed in surprise as someone grabbed her by the arm, then the waist, sliced the seatbelt, and hauled her out of her seat.

" _Sutt-"_

The voices were cut off by the sound of rushing wind and traffic. Whoever had grabbed her pulled her close. They were driving some kind of three wheeled trike and she guessed that was the only reason she could see the road racing beneath her feet instead of feel it.

 _Her friends!_  
She looked back.

The metal handed man was standing now and a large armored car was speeding right towards Steve and the others.

"No!"  
She saw the armored car slam into them full force. Could hear the impact even as they shrank in the distance.

Sutton let out a yell and hit her abductor in the side. They shifted but didn't slow. She had to stop them. She had to get back!

Recklessly, she grabbed the person around their helmet and pulled back, arching their neck forcibly towards the sky. The bike weaved and Sutton gave another harsh yank. The person hit the brakes.

Sutton saw nothing but sky for a moment.

And then she hit pavement.

She rolled once, twice, three times, more, and it felt like someone was taking a sandblaster to her skin. A burning, fiery pain shot up from her left thigh.

The person who'd taken her landed a ways away and Sutton knew, injuries or not, that she had to move.

A cry escaped her as she attempted to stand. When she finally got to her feet her left leg nearly buckled out from under her. Sutton gasped in pain and looked down.

Blood was blooming darkly out from her upper thigh, like a tear on ink. In the middle of the growing puddle of blood was a hole in her jeans.

She gasped again, feeling around for glass or metal shards, but there was nothing. The hole was a perfect circle.

Sutton shakily reached around the back of her leg and came away with more blood.

"I-I-I've been, I've been shot."  
Her voice was strangled, tight. She hadn't even felt it. She hadn't even felt a bullet go clean through her leg.

The bike rider had pushed themselves into a sitting position, finally, and pulled off their helmet with shaking hands.

Axel Ladino.

Sutton wanted to scream at him, throw something, but there was a squealing and then crashing behind her. The car she'd been in, the one with Nat and Sam and Steve still inside, was sliding towards her.

Sutton choked on air and moved.

Every step she took shot overwhelming waves of pain up her leg. But she had to _move, move, move_ or she was going to die.

Axel noticed the car as she passed him. She heard him scramble to his feet as well.

There was a banging, crunching, shattering, and then, briefly, more quiet.

Sutton kept moving. She needed a weapon. She needed a gun. She needed something!

Whether the metal armed man, who she'd bet her life was the Winter Soldier, had meant to hit her in the leg or not, he'd made it impossible for her to outrun anyone. She could barely limp as pain engulfed her entire leg.

The world tilted in her vision.

An explosion erupted behind her and she dropped to the ground, arms over her head. Gunfire followed immediately after and Axel cursed in her ear.

"Get up! Move; or they'll kill us too!"  
"Don't touch me!"  
"Would you rather come with me or get shot?"  
"I'm _already shot,_ genius!"

Axel pulled her over out of oncoming traffic and against the cement barrier of the bridge. Sutton thought she saw Sam briefly, but didn't spot anyone else. She panted a few times, recovering from using her leg. Axel pulled a pocket knife from his pants and Sutton scrambled. Her palm met his face once before he shoved her arms to the side.

"Hold still."

"Fat chance!"  
He grunted and muttered as he moved the knife to her turtleneck and cut off one of her sleeves.

"You're lucky he was using a .38," Axel said. "A .45 would have ripped a chunk of meat out of your leg."

He wrapped the strip of cloth around her thigh and pulled tight. Sutton hissed and bit her bottom lip.

"Oh yes." She seethed. "I'm so grateful."

Her entire body hurt, her leg was on fire, and she probably had patches of skin still stuck to the road, but if she didn't get away from Axel things would only get worse. He was distracted with tying a hasty knot above the wound. Sutton struck.

With his hands occupied he wasn't able to block the punch she threw at his face. He fell back and Sutton followed after him.

There was still wild gunfire going off, and screaming down on the lower streets, so the sound of her fist against his jaw again went unheard. She managed one more hit to his temple before she pushed herself up to her feet and limped away as quickly as she could.

Axel let out an enraged yell and Sutton heard feet slapping pavement.

All the gunfire was now being aimed at the ground below, which did little to settle her nerves. There were still people shooting at her friends and she didn't know how they were all fairing in this. A dead HYDRA agent was lying on the road and Sam had taken a gun, providing some much needed back up.

"Sa- _oof!"_

Sutton was tackled from behind. She threw out her hands just in time to keep from knocking her teeth out, but the impact still reignited all of her wounds.

 _Don't let them have your back!_ Natasha's voice shouted in her head.

Sutton twisted painfully to face Axel. Both of their faces were sweaty and scratched and bleeding. Her shot leg made gripping him not an option but she went for his throat anyway. Axel lifted himself up, out of her reach, and dug his thumb into her bullet wound. He twisted the digit down until blood seeped freshly around the makeshift bandage. Sutton's entire body writhed as she cried out, tears instantly running down her face.

"Stop fighting me. I'm not dying because of you."

Her vision flickered in and out and there was a pounding in her head. When she opened her eyes, there were two Axel's, one right on top of the other. Except the faded copy of his face was smiling and looking elsewhere.

" _Oh, you wanna try? Throw it, bro!"_

The voice was like from another room, distant and distorted. Sutton blinked forcefully and one Axel remained.

The gritty, glaring one.

"Hey!"  
Axel looked up just as there was another _pop!_ and suddenly flew backwards, his shoulder jerking back as he cried out. Sutton scrambled to her feet. She blinked twice as Axel held his shoulder and moaned.

"Come on!"  
She turned. Sam was wavering her over, face pinched and serious. Sutton hobbled over, her left leg dragging more now than it had been a second ago. Sam noticed her leg and cursed.

"Alright," he said as she stopped in front of him. She stood slumped and panting. "Alright let's get you out of here."  
He reached behind him and grabbed a line of rope that was embedded into the hood of a car by a hook.

"The guy who was going to use this won't be needing it anymore. Do you think you can hold onto it for a bit?"  
Sutton clenched her hands into fists a couple time to test their strength.

"My leg was shot, not-not my arms. Just be fast."  
Sam nodded.

Sutton carefully climbed up to sit on the edge of the bridge and gripped the rope. She wrapped her good leg around it and tugged making sure she was secure before she took a deep breath.

"Ok."  
"Don't let go."

She dropped faster than she anticipated. The muscles in her arms pulled harshly. A short yelp escaped her before she stuffed down anymore noise and clenched her teeth together. The ground below was rising up fast, and the rope came to a jarring halt right before she hit it. Sutton struggled to untangle herself and threw a thumbs-up to Sam.

"Thank you!"  
"Get out of here!"  
"Right."

She could still hear fighting as she made her way down different streets. People were running and screaming, fleeing from violence, and Sutton wasn't sure if she was supposed to join them or head into the chaos.

Her injuries made her even more of a hindrance than she was before. She should stay out of the way; lay low until Steve and Nat and Sam had taken everyone out and they could get moving again.

Sutton stuck to the surrounding buildings, slinking further from the bridge and trying to avoid the crowds of screaming people. She was dizzy and stiff and she just wanted to lie down. Just for a minute.

But she couldn't.

She didn't know where everyone was, Axel wasn't dead, and a moment of losing focus could get her killed. She shook her head and tried to stay attentive. But the streets around her were foreign and panicked people were running every direction and she stumbled as she tried to figure out where to go. A place to hide.

The world looked fuzzy to a certain degree and even the screaming people were hard to focus on. Sutton couldn't figure out where she was. Didn't know which direction she was going. All she knew was that she was moving. Had to keep moving. And her leg hurt and her arms burned where skin had been scraped off.

There was a _bang_ and the sound of ripping metal and Sutton jerked away, feeling like she'd torn her leg open as she moved. Her gaze darted up. Steve's shield was sticking out of the back of a van.

"What?"  
Sutton whirled around, almost fell because of the movement, and her eyes widened.

Steve was locked in a savage fight with the Winter Soldier. They exchanged hits, kicks, twisting around each other and battling for an advantage when they both seemed evenly matched. The Winter Soldier had lost his goggles, and his eyes were dark and grim as he flipped a knife in the air, caught it expertly, and lunged at Steve.

She stood frozen for a minute, her brain short circuiting as she tried to figure out how to react.

That was not a fight she could help him with.

Moving over to the shield, she tried to tug it out of the van, but after two pulls she knew she was wasting her time. Blood loss and sheer lack of superhuman strength wouldn't allow her to budge the object. She gave up and attempted to move out of the way.

There was more banging and the van rocked startlingly to the side. Sutton tried to pick up the pace, tripped, got up, and kept moving.

There was a grunt, more sounds of weights and metal colliding. And then a _thump._

The Winter Soldier was rolling to his feet.

He was rolling to his feet and he was right next to her.

She heard an intake of breath.

"Bucky?"

Her head snapped to look. The Winter Soldier had lost the mask covering half his face in the fight. The world tilted again.

Bucky? _Bucky Barnes?_

Steve's dead best friend, Bucky?

He looked just as wide-eyed as she felt. And in the few brief moments when Steve was shocked speechless, his eyes darted over to her. Sutton flinched and tried to keep moving. But he spun, throwing his leg out and knocked her off of her feet, catching her around the waist as she fell and twisting back around to face Steve.

Steve jerked, pulling up his shield and tensing, as if prepared to attack.

One arm tightened around her waist. The other went to her chest. His metal hand completely covered the arc reactor and metal plate under her collarbone and Sutton cried out as his fingers tightened around the edges of the device and tugged.

"No, no, no, no! Stop! _Please stop!_ "

Her skin around the device was taut, she could feel sharp warning pains as he held it in his grip. Steve quit moving and Bucky stopped pulling on the device. Sutton leaned forward as much as she was able; trying to relieve the pressure, trying to make sure the one thing keeping her alive wasn't literally ripped out of her.

"Bucky, don't!"  
She could feel him tense around her; she gasped as the arm around her waist squeezed tighter.

"Who the he** is Bucky?"  
"Just let her go."

Sutton fretted, her fingers digging into the flesh of her captor's arm. Bucky's arm.

 _Oh gosh._ The world was going insane.

He was alive. They'd done something to him. They must have. To make him forget. To make him fight for them. And it was evident that it'd damaged his mind enough to take his own identity from him.

He wasn't going to snap and play nice just because someone had recognized who he was.

Sutton took a shuddering breath, considering her options.

They were in a standoff once again. If Steve tried to fight, then Bucky would just rip her heart out as he watched. If they stayed in this standoff, it could be a trap to stall until reinforcements arrived. She swallowed, lifting her eyes up to Steve. His face was torn in a grimace. There wasn't going to be a "win" option in this scenario. She made a decision.

"Steve."  
The two men were eyeing each other. Steve distressed and confused; Bucky angry and fearful, like a cornered, wounded animal.

"Steve!"  
His eyes dropped down to her and Sutton pressed her lips together. Fought to keep her tone even and sure.

"You have to stop those ships."

"I'm not going to leave you."  
There was a break in his tone, a devastated drop brought on by too much to process at once. Sutton seized on it.

"You have to. I'm not asking this time. Promise me you'll finish this. I'll be ok." His shoulders dropped and Sutton forced her lips upwards. "I believe in you," she said. "They're going to want me alive anyway. So finish this."

His face fell, mouth hinging open for a moment. Sutton lowered her head and pegged him with a serious glare from under her brows. Then his mouth closed, lips tightening, and his own brows furrowed deeply. He nodded; a stiff, resigned gesture.

"Stay alive," he said.

Sutton's lips pressed against her teeth as she fought to keep from crumbling.

"You too."

They all jumped as there was a loud whirring of chopper blades. And when the noise proved distracting, Bucky darted away.

Sutton grunted as he lifted her off the ground and took off down the street. He had her tucked under one arm now. Like a doll. He was running and it was bouncing her as she was carted along. Her raw skin rubbed against the leather and metal of his suit. Sutton clawed at his side. Tried to stabilize herself.

"Bucky." She panted. "Bucky, please stop."

He shook her without even hesitating.

"Shut up."

They were moving down avenues farther away from where the battle had taken place now. The signs of damage were gone and people weren't cowering on street corners. She didn't know where he was going. Where he was taking her. But she had to try to keep him from succeeding.

"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes," she said desperately. "And that was Steve Rogers, your best friend. You fought in World War II together."

"I said, shut up!"

Sutton clicked her teeth against each other as they rounded a block. Bucky spun suddenly as he turned the corner. He shifted her into his other hand as he turned and threw his now free metal fist into the side of the building. Someone ducked and shouted. Brick exploded and crumbled. A crater was left where he hit.

"Hey! Whoa! We're on the same side here!"

Her stomach dropped out as Axel held up one hand, showing he was not a threat. Bucky eyed him coldly. When he didn't immediately move, Axel straightened.

"She's my mission," he said. "Give her to me and I'll take her in."

Sutton couldn't tell if this was actually a worse development or not. The ending destination would most likely be the same. Still, she'd grown a stronger dislike for Agent Ladino than she even had for the mentally messed up Bucky at the moment.

And he could smash walls and had almost ripped her reactor out.

Axel was still bleeding from his shoulder. He'd found something to hastily tie around the wound, but he was still persistent. Relentless.

"You failed your mission."  
Bucky's tone was bland. A statement. Axel looked shocked, and then his expression morphed into one of fury.

"I haven't failed yet! Give her to me and I'll take her to Pierce. You have your own-"

"Pierce," Bucky cut in. His tone now was questioning. Almost mocking. "He's deemed you inefficient."

Sutton felt his muscles tense as he moved, quick like a striking snake. He grabbed a small gun strapped to his side.

_Pop! Pop!_

Axel dropped. Blood ran down from his head and chest. Sutton clamped a hand over her mouth as she heaved.

Bucky continued moving.

**[]**

Sutton felt disconnected. Like her thoughts were on a delay and the world was just out of focus. She was only mildly shaken from that state when Bucky abruptly hopped into the back of a van with her and dropped her in a corner. She didn't bother moving. All of her muscles felt stiff and she could feel her road burned skin more acutely than before. She closed her eyes and tried to block everything out. Tried to pretend she wasn't being hand delivered to HYDRA.

Someone kicked her foot and Sutton snapped awake, gasping as fire shot up her leg. Bucky was glaring at her.

"Eyes open. No sleeping."

She scowled. Reminded herself that this wasn't the real Bucky.

"Steve missed you so much. He would never have left you if he knew you were alive." Bucky tensed further, as if he wasn't high strung already. "Buck-"

He snapped forwards, grabbed her by her shirt and pulled her up towards him.

"My name _isn't Bucky_ ," he insisted.

Sutton blinked in surprise. His eyes were wild, upset. Her limbs felt too much like noodles to fight him. She let her head loll back.

"If it's not Bucky, then what is it?"

He didn't say anything. Just stared through her as his jaw ticked.

"Shut up."

He pushed her back down and Sutton grunted as her back hit the side of the car. She decided to leave him alone.

She kept her eyes open the remainder of the trip, but only just barely. And even then, her mind wasn't all there during the ride. Perhaps she should have been plotting, trying to come up with some strategy, but even at her best that would have probably ended badly.

Her eyes fluttered at one point and Bucky tapped her left leg with his boot again. Sutton hissed.

"Did you shoot me in the leg on purpose," she asked. Her tone was spiteful through her pained grimace. "Or did you just miss my head?"

Her gaze slid over to him and he continued to scowl. The silence dragged on and Sutton sighed and looked away. The car was slowing now. She could hear the tires rolling lazily over pavement.

"You're small." Bucky's voice cut through the charged quiet. Sutton looked at him from the corner of her eye. "It was enough to keep you from getting too far."

The car stopped and Sutton involuntarily let out a quiet whine. The reality of her situation finally sank in.  
She was alone again. Fending for herself. And HYDRA had her.

Fruitlessly she shifted away, but Bucky pulled her out of the car without any strain.  
"Please." Her voice was weak. "We can help you. You don't have to go back."  
Bucky said nothing.

She wasn't conscious enough to know where they were. There were other HYDRA agents moving around her and Bucky, leading them into a building and up to higher floors. Bucky was carting her next to him and her movements were sluggish and disjointed as pain continued to throb up her leg.

"Get her cleaned up," someone said.

"There's medics at his station. Just let him take her."

Sutton felt her feet leave the floor and she went limp as she was carried like a sack of potatoes further into the building.

Eventually she was sat down and Sutton tried to force her eyes open wider. They were in some dim room. It looked almost like a bank vault. Across from her, in the corner, was a chair. Metal and imposing, the armrests sported restraints and monitors surrounded it. Above it hovered a dark, metal piece that curved like some sort of dark halo. It sent a shiver up her spine. She looked back in front of her and a man in a lab coat was trying to catch her attention. He shone a flashlight in her eyes and waved it around.

"-ollow this."

Sutton grimaced at the light and the man frowned.

"Just your eyes, not with your head."

Sutton's eyes crossed as she tried to comply. He put the light away when she failed to follow his simple instructions.

"Concussion," he said.

And then cold air was hitting her leg. He'd cut off the leg of her jeans to her hip joint to get to the bullet wound.

"It's a clean shot. Hold her."

Someone grabbed her arms and Sutton startled, unsure why, when suddenly a white hot pain erupted from her thigh. The man was flushing out the wound. Bits of dirt and denim actually ran out and Sutton's spine arched sharply as she tried to maintain her breathing. The sensation of liquid running literally through her had her a bit more awake.

Her gaze darted around the room again, unfocused and pained, before it landed on Bucky. He was sitting in that odd chair. One of the other men in a lab coat was fixing his metal arm; welding it or something. Sutton licked her dry lips and swallowed. Bucky's gaze looked horrifyingly blank. Shell-shocked. She dragged her eyes away from him. It felt too intimate, too cruel to look at him in this state. They'd stripped him of more than just his gear.

The man treating her wrapped gauze around her leg, taping it when it was sufficiently covered, and then wiped down a few of the road burn spots without a word. Sutton eyed the exit.

There was a cage door cracked open and a security team standing watch around it. She slumped further on the table they'd set her on.

"There. Now-"

There was a yell and a crash as the man treating Bucky went flying across the room. The man who'd been about to move her froze. Bucky's face was deadly and still. He sat hunched over and no longer moving, but his arms were flexed at his sides as if ready to fight. When the man tried to continue pulling her along, Bucky's glare snapped to him and the man stopped, releasing her. The security team rushed forwards, guns drawn.

Sutton held her breath.

But Bucky stayed still. He was breathing heavily and clenching his teeth, but he wasn't attacking anyone anymore. If Sutton were certain that he wouldn't get shot or kill her himself, she might've rooted him on.

"Call Pierce. Get him in here now."

Sutton let her eyes shut for just a moment and pursed her lips. Bucky showed no reaction or sign of hearing them. His chest glistened with sweat as his panting slowed.

More pain sparked in her head. The room twisted and blurred as a second image of the room took its place. She leaned forward and kneaded at her eye sockets.

She had to pull herself together! She needed to make sure she survived this! And that meant she needed her wits about her. Pierce was probably a smart guy; she had to be on her A game.

With a concussion, and a gunshot wound, and severe road rash.

Yeah. Things were looking great.


	9. Chapter 9

The room held onto its tension even as Bucky let some of his go. Instead of looking combative now, he just looked lost. Confused. Every once in awhile he'd cast a perplexed look at Sutton, wrinkling his nose, before he'd zone out again.

She felt sympathy swell up for him from around her exhaustion. But it was better to have him thinking, pondering things, than to leave him in a cycle of unquestioned abuse, wasn't it?

If she could even hope to help him escape.

She knew Pierce had arrived when a new layer of tension settled over the room. The strike team shuffled to move out of the way and the barred door creaked open ominously.

He walked into the dark space with a confidence that said he expected all eyes to be on him. Sutton scowled at his immaculate suit and styled hair. He looked every bit the part of a rich, white businessman who demanded respect and gave none.

They closed the barred door behind him as he marched into the vault, attention set in front of him. He eyed Bucky clinically as he tucked a pair of glasses into his jacket pocket.

"Mission report."

Bucky didn't even look up. He just kept staring off somewhere in the distance. Pierce's eyes hardened.

"Mission report, now."

Still there was no response. Sutton was starting to dig her nails into her palms as Pierce bent at the knees to try and look into Bucky's eyes. He studied him for a moment. And then he reached back and backhanded him across the face. Sutton lurched forward, lip pulled back in a scowl.

"Hey! Don't hurt him!"  
Pierce spared her a glance.

"I'll get to you in a minute," he said.

Bucky only blinked a few times as if the slap hadn't phased him much. His brows furrowed again in confusion.

"That man on the bridge," he said. "Who was he?"  
Pierce paused a moment, thinking.

"You met him earlier this week on another assignment."

Sutton grit her teeth. Bucky cast a quick glance at her.

"She said he was my friend."

The glare Pierce grazed her with was chilling. Sutton only shakily raised her chin up higher in defiance. Pierce breathed in shallowly and pulled out a stool to sit on. As if this were all an inconvenience that they'd dealt him. As if Bucky cracking at the seams was just an irritating hassle to be handled.

"Your work has been a gift to mankind," he began. And Sutton was dizzy with anger. He spoke about "shaping a century" and her stomach roiled. When he mentioned HYDRA bringing the world _freedom_ she felt absolutely sick.

"If this is what you're calling freedom, then you can keep it." If she had more energy, maybe she would have gotten up to confront him, but just sitting up was a feat in itself. "I've met monsters before, but," she shook her head, "at least they were honest about what they were."

Pierce's jaw ticked as he kept his stare focused on Bucky. Bucky shook his head almost imperceptibly, his lips pulling up tightly in a sad feign of a smile.

"I knew him."

It was as far from happy or cheerful smile as you could get. It was a look you gave when you've resigned yourself to something and you know it.

Pierce sighed and leaned back. Then he stood up.

"Get her out of here and prep him."

"He's been out of cryo too long," one of the scientists said.

"Then wipe him and start over."

Bucky's face collapsed. If she didn't know any better Sutton would say he looked like he was about to cry. His eyes were large, brows up and pressed together, while his lips flattened thinly. She couldn't even rectify who he was now with the man who'd threatened her earlier this afternoon.

They were going to do something to hurt him, and Bucky knew it. He'd been through it before.

One of the security team members was already heading over towards her and Sutton blurted out the first thing she could think of.

"You can wipe his memory, but it won't do you any good!"

The room froze. Pierce's attention was one-hundred percent on her. Sutton swallowed as he eyed her.

"Excuse me?"  
She breathed a few times and tried to sit up straighter. Tried to tell herself that she wasn't making a terrible mistake.

"It's already too late. Your plan? It's going to fail."

Pierce raised a brow at her, mouth ticking as if he found her claims humorous.

"You think your friends will succeed."  
Sutton huffed.

"No. I think I did." She took joy from the way his face twisted suddenly. "You wanted me alive, so you know who I am and you have an idea of what I'm capable of." She bared her teeth at him in a false grin. "You should be careful what you wish for."

That got his attention. He stormed forward, face cast in shadow, as his entire demeanor bristled.

"What did you do?"

Sutton struggled to scoot back on the table, pulling her left leg as a dead weight. She prayed for more courage.

"I just- just find it hard to _believe_ that no one noticed anything fishy within SHIELD all these years," she said. "It's so easy to _imagine_ that someone might've taken action. Like putting a-a backdoor into your-into your program."

"What does that mean?"  
"It _means_ that when you start those helicarriers up, you should expect some malfunctions."

Pierce grit his teeth. And then he backhanded her as well. Sutton gasped as her head snapped to the side and a sharp, burning pain spread across her face.

"You're going to undo whatever you did," he said. Sutton sneered at his commanding tone. She spat on the floor by his feet.

"No. I will not."

There was technically nothing to undo, but he didn't need to know that. If it threw him off kilter, if it stopped them from wiping Bucky's mind again, then at least she'd done one thing to help the team.

A pregnant silence engulfed the room. Everyone seemed to be waiting on Pierce's next orders. He stood and deliberated silently and Sutton glared up at him in return. He gestured to Bucky with his head.

"Move him. Wipe her first."

"Sir-"

"Do it. We can't risk having her as a free agent. I need her full compliance. Wipe her and have her undo whatever it is she did. Then you can wipe him."  
Horror crept through her veins. Chilling and razor sharp. How had she not anticipated this sort of reaction from him?

She pushed herself back further on the table, but there was nowhere to go. Only metal at her spine.

"No!"

But the exit was being blocked by men with guns, and she could barely lift her arms as it was. One man, dark haired and scruffy, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off the table and over to the now empty chair. Sutton clawed at the skin on his hand viciously. The man hissed.

"Knock it off. You've got nowhere to go, darling."

Sutton's breathing hitched.

"Rumlow." She growled. He sneered at her. "I hope Steve kicks your butt again."  
"You both take things way too personally."

She yelled in frustration and tried to break away, but they were already strapping her down into the chair. The cool metal chafed at her raw skin as she struggled. Bucky had been moved over to the side of the room and he was staring at her with wide, conflicted eyes. Rumlow backed up when she was secured, hands on his hips.

"Resistance to HYDRA is futile," he said. Sutton grit her teeth as she fought through the pain. Tried to _think, think, think._

"Eat rocks, Rumlow."

She couldn't let them do this to her! She couldn't forget! If HYDRA controlled her, if they could make her follow orders, she didn't want to even consider what she could do. Or die trying to do.

"Hurry up," Pierce said from near the exit. "I want to know that this is done."

Sutton couldn't see clearly through the tears as she panted. The room was fuzzy. One of the scientists reached up for a metal piece that looked like it'd land somewhere on her face and Bucky winced.

From down the hall, there was yelling. Gunfire.

The scientist froze in his movements, and everyone's attention snapped to the doorway. Pierce shifted back as the security team rushed forward, guns once again up and ready. Sutton shuddered in relief at the delay. For a moment it was quiet. And then there was more unsettling yelling and wild gunfire that was suddenly silenced. The radio on Rumlow's belt crackled.

" _Backup! We need backup! An armed-"_

It cut out in a hiss of static and Rumlow looked to Pierce. The man nodded and Rumlow waved his hand in a circle, gathering up his team for them to head out. They disappeared passed the door and down the hall and Sutton squirmed again in the chair. The clamps hadn't loosened with their leaving. It only sent lightning up her leg.

"Steve," she whispered under her breath. As much as she now wanted it to be him, she'd told him to stop those ships! Her conscience was torn. The selfish part desperately wanted it to be him and the others. For them to barge in and rescue her before she had her mind turned to pudding. But she fought against that.

The world was counting on them doing their part. Without stopping for her.

More gunfire rose up, along with another noise. Not quite gunfire. There was an odd echo to it that Sutton couldn't quite place at the moment. But it sounded familiar. And then Rumlow came running back around the corner. He waved the remaining people in the room onward.

"Sir, we gotta get you out of here."  
Pierce stiffened.

"Are you incapable-"

" _Now,_ sir. They're enhanced."  
Pierce turned sharply towards Bucky.

"You heard him."

Bucky blinked, still dazed and unsure. He looked at Sutton as she pulled against her restraints.

"But she-"  
" _Now, soldier._ "

She watched as Bucky started to move. As if he wasn't sure what else to do but follow orders. Here was a chance for him to get away, and he was wasting it. Sutton wished she wasn't strapped to a chair, wished her leg wasn't all but useless. She wanted to grab him by the arm and run. Bring him back to Steve and the others and set everything right.

"Find Steve, Bucky," she called out. "He'll help you, ok? You can trust him!"  
Bucky glanced back at her once before Pierce barked out another order, and it seemed to mildly snap him back into his role as the Winter Soldier.

"Rumlow, grab the girl-"

But Rumlow was suddenly barking orders of his own and moving the group out of the room.

"No time," he said.

He laid down cover fire as Bucky shielded Pierce with his own body and led the man down the opposite direction of the hall.

Who was shooting at him? Who was coming down the hall that had Rumlow on the defense?

Something lit up the hall in a bright light that reflected off the metal in the room around her. Sutton blinked against the glare and saw Rumlow take a few last parting shots before he backed up to follow Bucky and Pierce and the others.

A shadow was cast against the wall outside the room as the attacker approached. She could hardly breathe.

And then a dark figure emerged from around the wall and she felt her chest collapse. Sutton wheezed, feeling like she'd been kicked in the stomach, and pulled harder against the restraints.

"No. No, no, no, no, no. Come back! Don't leave me here! DON'T LEAVE ME."

Phaser fire.

That's what the noise had been.

She couldn't take a full breath as she broke down. Couldn't think.

Khan Noonien Singh looked through the doorway and grinned.

**[]**

Pain no longer registered as she pulled desperately against the restraints. Patches of her vision went dark as she hyperventilated. Someone walked out from behind Khan's approaching figure, and her frenzied gaze flickered to see who it was.

"St-"

_Loki?_

He walked with arms loosely clasped behind his back, head tilting back and eyeing her purposefully. She angled her body towards him and panted harshly.

"Help!"

But Loki waved a finger at her and continued on down the hall.

" _Tick-tock."_

His voice sounded in her head and Sutton cried out as his image disappeared.

Khan was close now. She'd be able to reach out and touch him if she were free. He placed his phaser back in its holster and took a moment to just study her. The silence stretched on. Sutton couldn't look at him. She turned her head towards the far wall and let out a warbling whimper.

"Look at you. You're in almost as bad of shape as when you left me."

Sutton cringed and tried to shrink away. The arc reactor was screeching shrilly and Khan's attention was drawn towards her chest.  
She felt sick. She could taste pancakes at the back of her throat.

She wasn't supposed to be alone!

Khan'a attention switched to the monitors. He scanned them momentarily and then he reached over and tapped a few keys.

Sutton tensed further and grit her teeth, but no additional pain came. The clamps over her arms and legs sprung up and Khan _tsked_ under his breath.

"Such a crude design."

Sutton didn't move. Some primal part of her latched onto the idea that maybe if she just didn't move he wouldn't pay attention to her.

But he did.

Khan reached down and pulled her out of the chair. His skin touched hers and Sutton snapped. She swiveled her right arm out and around, trying to knock his hand away while her right leg instinctively reached back for balance. But the move was sloppy, uncoordinated. Khan jerked her forward and the elbow she threw to his chest hurt her more than it did him.

The room spun again as she gasped, trying desperately to suck in air. Her arms shook as she dry heaved. Khan made a noise of disgust and held her out away from him.

"Please save the dramatics."

Sutton ground her teeth together, trying to fight her initial reaction. Tried to keep herself from breaking apart.

She needed- _she needed…._

"Please get out of my universe," she snarled back. But her voice was weak. Hoarse.

"That is the plan."

What? Oh no. _No, no._

Khan hefted her under one arm, reached across to grab his phaser, and then made his way out of the vault. The hall was empty of all living people. Sutton could see a few men sprawled on the floor a ways away. Khan stepped over the bodies without a glance when he passed them.

She breathed in through her nose a few more times as she tried to stop shaking. Stop panicking. Stop her eyes from watering.

There had to be a way out. She wasn't going back. She _couldn't_ go back.

But it was hard to fight through it all. Him touching her, it dragged her all the way back to the start.

Back passed the couch where she'd confessed, back before the ship where she'd finally gotten a slight upper hand. All the way back to that sterile room where she'd finally realized that she wasn't untouchable.

Sutton tried to push away from him as much as she was able. He glided through the building as if he owned it. The adrenaline rush was already draining her. The arc reactor wasn't beeping shrilly anymore, but she still felt breathless. She felt heavy.

It was growing dusk outside yet the light still was searing in her vision. It instantly gave her a headache. She held up a feeble hand and tried to block some of the dying sun as she looked around.

Maybe there was still chance. Maybe she could once again call for help.

And then what? What person off the street could help her? Khan had a phaser at the ready, and an entire HYDRA strike team and been sent running from him. Khan wasn't Axel. He wouldn't show restraint.

She'd get people killed.

Someone would notice though. They had to. She had half of an outfit on and was bloody and being carried by a severe looking man who could cart a person with one arm.

Someone would report what they saw, even if they didn't interfere. She had to believe that. She _did_ believe that.

Khan swung around the back of the building. He dropped her in his hold a bit, so that it looked like he was supporting her rather than carrying her, and her bare arm and leg were more hidden by his side. Sutton clenched her jaw as her thigh rubbed against his leg with every step.

She cast her desperate gaze around as he walked, trying to catch someone's attention. Trying to send someone a look that clearly said, ' _please call for help immediately. I am currently being abducted.'_

As it was, Khan blended in fairly well. He had stuck to dark colors and his pants and jacket were a matte fabric. If you didn't look too closely, you couldn't really tell his ensemble was just a bit off. And he was sticking to back alleys as much as possible, so that didn't help.

Sutton whimpered again as her wounds were continuously battered. Her eyes darted over the streets once more as she noticed them entering a more secluded park-like area. A woman down the sidewalk underneath a streetlight squinted at her, phone loosely in her hand, as she elbowed her friend in the side and pointed. Sutton breathed in sharply, eyes wide. She wiggled her left arm away from Khan's side as much as she could and held it out in front of her, palm up. With her right hand she made the "A" shape, finger pressed against her palm and thumb up, and rested it on her left palm. She moved both hands back towards herself right before she and Khan disappeared into foliage.

_Help me._

He left the trail of the park shortly after, into the short trees. Anxiety rose up anew, but Sutton curled her fingers into fists and swallowed thickly.

No.

She couldn't lose it. Not now. She had to be smart about this.

What had her time recovering, healing, training, been for if she only broke down now? Now when she needed it the most?

Khan pulled her away a bit to push the phaser into its holster again lazily. Obviously he wasn't anticipating any further complications.

If only she were taller and he not so strong. She could go for his eyes.

There was a slight opening in the trees and Khan stepped confidently into it. Only to freeze. Sutton didn't notice anything alarming. She didn't notice anything at all. There was only a clearing about the size of two buses and some foliage.

"What."

Khan sounded darkly shocked. Like someone had dealt him an unexpected insult. He let go of her and walked to the middle of the small cleaning. Sutton dropped down with a pained grunt and tried to quickly swivel to her knees.

"Where is it?"

She didn't know who he was asking, but she offered no reply. Instead she tried to scoot towards the treeline, back in the direction they'd come from. But she'd only made it a few feet when Khan rounded on her.

"Did you do this? Where is my ship?"

Sutton let out a shaky, agitated breath.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

He paced a few more times, shoulders stiff and steps rigid. Sutton looked around as she tried to figure out if there was a chance to get away. Let Khan look for some supposed ship. Let him be distracted.

Let him underestimate her.

She saw him pull some sort of handheld computer out of his pocket and type into it as she reached for a rock. He didn't move to stop her. Quickly, she undid the laces on one of her shoes and pulled it out. She tied the lace around the rock, first one way then perpendicular like ribbon on a gift, and hefted the weight in her hand.

What she wanted to do was go all David and Goliath on him; just swing the rock and let it fly at his head. But she didn't have the best aim and he wasn't even human. Instead she pressed her thumb under the gauze on her leg, came out with blood and pressed it to the surface of the rock.

Her body tensed as he turned and she quickly swung the rock, flinging it as far into the trees that they'd emerged from as she could. They weren't too far off the trail. Maybe someone would see it.

Maybe they'd spread word faster and the others, Tony, _anyone_ , would know the situation had changed.

Khan glowered at her as he put the computer back in his pocket.

"That will not help you."

"I don't believe you. Not anymore."

Her entire body screamed as he moved closer, but she forced herself to breathe slowly and didn't move. She might've been frozen solid anyway. His hand wrapped around her arm as he moved passed her, and he pulled her up and along beside him. Sutton tried to keep pace next to him despite the pain in her leg. He began backtracking through the trees. His plan, for the moment, seemed to have been thrown off. At least from what she could gather. Her brain might still be a little muddled, but it sounded like he'd expected to find a spaceship in those trees.

But what could have moved one if it'd been there?

A branch smacked Sutton in the face and she attempted to pay more attention to her surroundings.

"Where are you going," she managed to ask. The situation felt uncomfortably familiar. She eyed his hands for a hypo-spray.

"It appears I must adjust my initial plans." He offered nothing else.

A faint wave of gratefulness swept through her. More time. She had a bit more time. If only she could outthink. Outmaneuver. Out-anything.

She needed to find a way to work with what she had.

Khan kept to the shadows of the sidewalk as they emerged from the treeline. His gaze darted rapidly, surveying streets and people. Making calculations and judgement calls. Sutton tried to look around as well. It was still hard to focus.

Police and ambulance sirens could be heard streets away. A helicopter still hovered over some buildings around the site that the fighting had gone down. Sutton hoped that the others had gotten away without more setbacks.

He was still attempting to hide her torn clothes as much as he could, but there was only so much that could be disguised. A few people stared for longer than a curious glance and his jaw ticked. Sutton startled as he stopped to pull off his jacket and throw it over her shoulders. Then he grabbed the loose fabric in the back and tugged her forward. Sutton stumbled and let out a muted cry.

"My leg. I can't."  
Khan grunted and threw an arm over her shoulders to provide support. Sutton's skin crawled. She slipped her arms through the sleeves to free her hands as she chewed on her bottom lip. Something was digging into her sore side and she tensed with every step. Her eyes flickered down and she tensed again.

His phaser.

She quickly looked away. Adrenaline surged through her again and her reactor chirped once. Khan glanced down briefly, but didn't bother the sound with too much attention. Her fingers tingled.

Should she? Could she?

Would it work?

Last time she'd been in a position like this, she'd waited too long. Overthought. Regretted it. Sutton breathed shakily through her nose. Tried to keep her body language from shifting too much.

He'd been thrown off kilter with the missing ship. He maybe assumed she was too scared and concussed to try anything reckless.

He was almost right.

Sutton threw her hand down, grabbed the phaser by the grip, and pulled it out of the holster. Khan moved, immediately feeling the action, but Sutton already had her finger on the trigger. She moved the phaser as little as possible. Dug it into his side.

Fired.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Birthday Post! Enjoy! :)

Khan let out a guttural cry as the phaser beam bit into his side. He stumbled and his grip on Sutton tightened. His weight made her fumble with the phaser as she desperately tried to keep her balance. Something on the weapon moved and it made a noise as she steadied her grip.

She pulled the trigger again. He let go and staggered down to his knees. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were going a bit glassy. Sutton tore away and put some distance between him and herself. He clutched his side, panting, and glared at her. She shook, arms trembling and fingers feeling stiff, as she kept the phaser pointed at him and watched him a moment. His leg twitched and she jumped. Fired again.

Khan fell to the pavement.

For a moment she didn't move. Just stared wildly down at him to reassure herself he wasn't stirring. Wasn't faking it.

The phaser had been set to kill. She looked down. The color on the phaser wasn't red now, but blue. So, at least the  _first_ shot had been set to kill. And he may be still breathing, just barely, but even his body could only take so much. He was still mortal.

Sutton shoved the phaser deep into the pocket of his jacket and tried to move quickly. His unconscious body would draw attention if it hadn't already. She had to get away from it. Get away from him.

She felt lightheaded now on top of everything else. Dizzy with adrenaline and a clawing exhaustion. But she moved; because she had to.

A phone. She needed a phone.

She needed to call Tony and beg him to come get her.

It was darker now. The dusk had sunk down and the sky was dim. The dark jacket she still wore helped her blend in. But she didn't know where she was. Her left leg was giving her more trouble and it was hard to read street signs.

"Well, you finally managed to do something right."

Sutton's diaphragm seized and she tripped as she whirled around. She landed on her rear with a painful grunt and immediately scrambled to dig into the pocket for the phaser.

She pointed it up, finally looking, and froze.

"Loki."

He stood over her. Tall and dark. Sutton cringed and looked away from a moment. Reminded herself to breathe again. Different face. He had a different face.

But he was no less deadly.

She rushed to scoot backwards and rise to her feet again. Loki merely watched.

"So wonderful to find you still have your sharp wit about you," he drawled. Sutton shot him a glare as she continued to move back. Loki followed lazily.

She'd long suspected that he hadn't actually died like Jane Foster had said. The nightmare she'd had a year ago had made her wonder. But to see him in person. To have it confirmed was something else entirely.

And he was in front of her.

Yet, there was something else. Something off.

"This isn't the first time I've seen you."

Loki smirked.

"You seemed desperate for me back in that vault."

The memory flashed briefly, though it was frightening how fuzzy it was for her. Part of her had known it was Loki, and yet at the same time it was as if she hadn't quite realized who it was. It had been a person not Khan, and she had reacted. Sutton stared at the ground a moment, as she continued to limp backwards. Her lips tugged down in thought.

"That-that wasn't the first time either, was it?"  
He leaned forward then and grabbed her by the arm, bringing her closer to himself. Sutton tried pulling away, but it was useless.

"Hardly."

He pressed his thumb into the middle of her forehead and Sutton gasped.

_Space, endless rooms, coffee, purple, purple, purple! Death._

She ripped herself away from him and he let her go. Sutton wheezed and tilted dangerously to the side. Her pupils were blown wide as memories came rapidly back to her.

Dreams.

"I was right." She gasped. "I was right the whole time. It was you. You gave me all these nightmares!"

"I gave you warnings."

"Selfishly," Sutton snapped. "Don't act like any of it was to help me."

Loki rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated noise while waving his hands flippantly.

"What does it  _matter_  if you also benefit from it? Please, attempt to look at the bigger picture here."

"Oh,  _I_ am. And the fact remains that if  _you_  hadn't been so selfish, and afraid of me  _tattling on you_ , then maybe I would have remembered enough of your warnings to actually  _do_  something." Sutton dug her fingers into the hair on her scalp. "And now I, and now  _he-_ "

It hit her like another slap across the face.

Thanos was coming.

And Loki was desperate enough to actually show himself in person. Desperate enough to give her back the memories he'd kept from her.

She was losing air again. Her lungs couldn't take any in. Sutton pushed an angry yell through her teeth and aimed the phaser at him.

"This is all because of you! You forced me to come here. I could have stayed home. I could have missed them all and moved on! Do you have any idea what I've already been through? Do you have any idea what I've already done?"

There was no mercy in his gaze. He waved his hand in a circle and the phaser dissolved until all she was clutching was a plain handkerchief.

"What's done is done," he said. "I don't regret it. Yet. For your own sake, you should make sure I don't come to."

She blinked at the lack of a weapon; lifted her gaze to eye him.

"You moved his ship, didn't you?"  
"Him leaving with you would have gone against everything I've worked for."

Sutton scoffed angrily and threw the handkerchief on the ground.

"You-"

There were two Lokis. The one she'd been talking to was dressed in the Asgarian equivalent of casual wear, but the new one was decked out in full armor. She took a couple more wobbling steps back.

"What are you doing?"

Loki lifted a brow and attempted to follow her line of sight.

The second Loki was looking down imperiously at a height level to her, but in a slightly different direction. He gestured at the space beyond himself.

" _It is Nothing."_

Sutton's face wrinkled in confusion. He sounded distant. Muddled, like his voice was rising up out of water.

"Nothing?" Her eyes darted to a more intrigued looking Loki. "What is nothing? What are you-Oh."

Loki didn't seem like he had the slightest idea of what she was talking about.

"Dang it."  
She spared them both one last glance and then moved to continue on. The visions really had to stop. She still needed a phone. She still needed to get ahold of Tony.

"What will it take to motivate you," Loki called out to her. Her spine stiffened as she kept walking, trying to disappear into the shadows that now stretched across the sidewalk.

"The destruction of Midgard? The death of your beloved friends? Because that is what comes if you do nothing."

She grit her teeth. Didn't stop.

Loki appeared in front of her, scowling and tense, and Sutton yelped.

"Listen here, mortal," he said, "I don't have ti-"

Then his eyes darted up towards the sky and he disappeared.

Sutton shifted over towards the nearest building and leaned tiredly against it as she craned her head to see what had spooked Loki.

Bright yellow repulsors lit up the night sky and Sutton went slack against the wall. A tired, relieved laugh escaped her as she watched the Iron Man suit land in front of her.

It opened almost as quickly as it landed and Tony rushed out looking more worried than he usually let on.

"Sutton?" One look at her face and his expression darkened. "What the heck, Small Fry."

Sutton fell into his open arms.

She didn't speak at first. Just closed her eyes and buried her face into his shirt. Breathed in the smell of aftershave and mechanical grease. He waited a beat before tilting her head up. She hiccupped and wiped at her eyes. Laughed a bit frantically.

"I was just about to try and call you."

"Ok. Ok, let's get you out of here."

He led her forward and Sutton limped to follow beside him. He noticed. Tony paused her movements with a hand on her shoulder as he eyed the too large jacket that hid her legs.

"What happened?"

Sutton grimaced.

"It's fine. I just, uh, just maybe, might've been… um. Shot."

Tony froze. His lips were pressed thinly together as he lifted his fist into the air and shook it once, as if he was so done with all of this.

"I'm going to kill Barton. And then I'm going to kill Rogers."

She waited a beat.

"Not Romanoff?"  
"Be realistic."

He made sure that she was steady before he moved away from her and hopped back into his suit; letting it close around him before he walked back over and scooped her up off the ground. Sutton tucked her hands into her lap and turned her face away from the wind as he rocketed into the sky and took off. The metal alloy of his suit was cold, but at this point it didn't bother her much. Her body felt almost numb. Felt like it finally could just let go.

Like for a moment she was safe.

**[]**

Sutton pried her eyes open and sat up. Sun shone in from tall windows that lined an entire side of the room. She was on a couch back in the Tower. Tony's own penthouse if memory served her right. Her skin felt hot and her leg was still painful as she shifted to the edge of the couch. Someone was messing around in the kitchen. She could hear them shuffling around on the tile and tinkering with appliances.

She stood slowly, groaning under her breath as she moved her limbs. Shucking off the stolen jacket, she made her way to the kitchen. Getting there took more effort than it normally would have, but she pressed on. Tony was making coffee. He finished filling the machine with water before putting the pot back in its seat and turning around.

"Small Fry! What are you doing up?"  
Sutton pulled out one of the bar stools and sat down.

"No time for sleep, Tony."

He frowned at her as she ran a hand through her hair. She came away with ash and oil. Grimacing, she wiped it off on what was left of her jeans. Tony continued his interrogation of her silently, his look probing. He wanted her to explain. To tell him what had happened and why she'd been in such a frazzled state and alone when he found her. She was able to hold out until he poured her a glass of water and slid it in front of her. Sutton ran her thumb over the rim of the cup. She let out a small resigned sigh.

"SHIELD is actually HYDRA. They're going to try and decimate a major chunk of the earth's population if Steve and Nat and Sam don't stop them. And, and-"

She paused to take a sip of water. Breathed. When she spoke again her voice was low, monotone. "Do you know how many people are hunting me now? And I can't even hide." He shifted his stance and continued to wait. Sutton chewed on her bottom lip.

"Khan made it through."

Tony turned his back to her and cursed under his breath.

"And that's not even the worst part. After- I somehow got away, and- Loki showed up. I remember all those nightmares now." She tilted her face up towards the ceiling and blinked rapidly.

"Thanos  _is_ coming. I-I need- I need to get away from all of you. If he doesn't know, maybe he'll leave you alo-"

Tony spun back around to face her.

"You really think going off by yourself is smart?"

"I don't know," she snapped. "I don't care if it's the dumbest idea in the world, as long as none of you are hurt!"

"And, what? You think you can beat him on your own?"

"He isn't supposed to be here so soon. No one is ready. There aren't enough- I don't know, ok? I haven't tried yet."

Tony's eyes sharpened and he pointed sternly at her.

"Don't. Don't you try anything. You have no idea what that will do to you physiologically. You've already lost one major organ, do you want to lose another?"

"Will you build me a new one?"  
His nostrils flared as he blew air out of his nose.

"Not funny."

Sutton took another drink of water and let the argument die. He turned back to the coffee pot and gestured towards the kitchen exit with his head.

"There's a bathroom down the hall. Second door on the right. If you want to get yourself cleaned up, I'll look over your reactor and that gunshot wound."

Sutton slid off the barstool delicately.

"I need you to turn off the alert," she said. "It gives me away when I get freaked out."

Tony took a second before he nodded silently.

There was a bag of clothes already sitting on the floor of the bathroom and Sutton pressed her lips into a grateful smile as she peeled off what was left of her outfit. All of it was covered in blood and gravel and ash. She hesitated, then reached for the gauze on her thigh. It fell away slowly as she unraveled it without looking. She knew it was exposed when air rubbed against her nerve endings. Sutton grit her teeth and looked.

There was still blood around the open wound. Some dried, some still looked wet. The skin puckered where it'd been forced apart. She twisted around and tried to peer at the back of her leg. The exit wound was a bit larger than the one on the top of her thigh. She'd have lovely circular scars when it all healed.

If she survived everything.

Tony had a ridiculously large walk-in shower, and Sutton took advantage of that. It didn't feel like a good idea to soak the bullet wound, so she stayed out of the spray and did her best to get clean with just a washcloth. She saved tackling her hair for last.

The clothes Tony had left were a basic pair of loose sweat-shorts, a cami, a dark v-neck, and some basic underthings. She put them all on and limped back to the kitchen. A mug of coffee already sat waiting for her. She propped herself back up on the stool.

"Creamer?"

Sutton looked up sharply.

"Pepper, you're in today?"

She was obviously not working, wearing a pair of denim shorts and a simple blouse. Pepper smiled grimly at her and slid a pitcher of cream over along with two small pills,  _ibuprofen_ faintly printed on the sides.

"Seems like there's a lot going on here lately that could use attention. Plus I had to pick up those clothes for you. Tony doesn't want word getting out that you're here."

Sutton threw the pills to the back of her throat and took a sip of the coffee to wash it down.

"Don't know how long I'll be staying," she muttered. Pepper cocked an eyebrow at her. "Probably shouldn't let him hear you say that." Her face melted down into a look of concern as her eyes flickered down the hall. "He's not taking all this well."

Sutton took another drink of coffee. Let the bitterness sit on her tongue.

"Is he still talking to someone? From that deal we made?"

Pepper looked sheepish.

"He stopped a bit before the tremors started. Said he was fine and didn't need it anymore. You know how stubborn he can be."

Pepper moved over to the fridge and pulled out a container of sliced fruit. She passed it to Sutton and nodded to the elevator.

"He's waiting downstairs. We should get down there so we can get your leg wrapped back up."

Her face pinched when she braved a brief look at Sutton's leg. Sutton understood. It wasn't a pretty thing to look at. She grabbed the tupperware of fruit and her coffee and followed after Pepper, assuring the woman that she was fine and didn't need help walking.

He was finishing setting up a workspace when they walked into the lab. He looked at her leg first, obviously wanting to get it cleaned and covered as quickly as possible. Infection was the main concern when it came to injuries like these. Sutton braced herself as he gently cleaned it out once again and rewrapped it.

"Did Khan do this?"  
Sutton shook her head.

"No. It was, uh, The Winter Soldier."

Tony sneered and she wanted to elaborate. Tell him that it was actually Bucky Barnes, back from the dead. That she couldn't exactly place all the blame on him for shooting her after what she'd seen in that vault. But she wasn't sure how well that'd go over at the moment. Plus she'd have to explain about the chair, and she was already stressing Tony out enough as it was.

Pepper sat down next to her and tapped the container of fruit. Sutton obediently opened it and bit into a chunk of cantaloupe.

"The road rash," Pepper asked.

"Flew off a trike. I was trying to-" The image of Axel's body, bleeding on the ground,

flashed in her mind's eye and she swallowed down the sickness that threatened to rise up. "It was the only way to get off."

Tony finished wrapping her leg and gestured to Sutton's v-neck. She pulled it off, still wearing the camisole, and he moved onto fiddling with the reactor. He hooked it up like he usually did for diagnostics and pulled out a few extra tools as well. Sutton ate another piece of fruit. Chewed slowly.

"So, did  _you guys_  do anything interesting this week?"

Pepper gave more of a reaction to her attempt at humor than Tony did. She hummed briefly in thought and then spoke about trying to coerce Tony out of the Tower and his " _petulant moping",_ probably because he was feeling " _left out"_. Tony cut in to defend himself, denying any and all moping. Sutton listened to their banter with a growing ache.

She couldn't allow anything to happen to them. They needed to live and get married and grow old together.

"There," Tony eventually said. "The audible alert has been disabled. But Jarvis will still get updated when the reactor is continually being signaled for elevated heart rate."

Sutton eyed him suspiciously.

"That's why you showed up when you did, isn't it? He alerted you too many times." Tony shrugged. Sutton pulled her shirt back over her head and continued to pin him with a look. "You never had a tracker on my phone, did you? You don't need one."

Tony gave her a tight-lipped smile.

"Would you be more mad if I confirmed it?"

Sutton crossed her arms.

"I don't know. I guess I'd wonder how often you actually keep tabs on me."

"In general, or as of late?"

"Touché."

He moved to put all the equipment away and Pepper's phone buzzed in her shorts pocket. Sutton stayed seated on the workbench. The easy expression had disappeared from her face and she was left with a look of wary contemplation.

That dream was bubbling back up to haunt her. The one that Loki had originally let her keep. The one she should have taken more to heart, not let the others reassure her over.

The rubble, the smell of smoke and heat. The Avengers. Dead.

But what to do? How to end it all?

She didn't trust Loki in the least, but he had a point. Thanos was coming now because of her. Somewhere inside her was the potential to stop it. She couldn't just do nothing.

Sutton closed her eyes and breathed a few times. Focused.

What if- What if Thanos didn't exist at all? What if he'd never been born, or created, or however it was he came to be?

_He wasn't real. He was one character in a comic book that didn't apply to this universe. He was a boogeyman created by spooked space travelers. He was a threat Loki was using to scare her for some other nefarious reason._

She'd convinced herself of more incredible things. Convinced herself this day would never come in the first place. Now she just had to convince herself that it had all been a ruse. Convince herself and hope that the people from her own universe would buy into an idea like that.

Her entire body convulsed. Sutton let out a garbled gasp as she tried to remain adamant. Tried to completely believe the lie she was telling herself.

 _Thanos isn't real. Thanos isn't real. Thanos_ _isn't_   _real._

Her muscles spasmed again and she almost fell off the bench, but her fingers gripped tightly before she completely tipped over.

" _Guh!"_

Energy surged through her that was not her own, just like when she'd done this before when she was trying to escape Khan. She arched back as it coursed through her limbs. But it didn't release. Didn't strengthen her even momentarily. It turned suddenly, sharp and sour, and crackled hotly under her skin. Like it was stuck. Like it had nowhere to go.

_He's not…._

"Stop! Sutton, I swear to g** I  _will_  sedate you."

She tried to hold on, but it was all piling up, growing and growing, until she thought she might burst apart if she tried to hold onto it.

_Ripping, tearing, popping._

Sutton stopped trying to convince herself. Stopped trying to force it. She opened her eyes and gasped before she swallowed sickness down as her limbs continued to tremble. The energy that had threatened to consume her didn't just vanish. It fizzled out slowly through her veins and left her with a feeling that was almost worse than the initial pain. It was too much caffeine, or a lingering anxiousness. The kind that leaves you on edge and bouncing your leg while you wait for something to happen when you're not even sure what it is. Her arms, her hands, were a jittering mess.

Tony was glaring at her, his jaw tense. He pointed at her, opened his mouth and then closed it again. As if he were too angry to even speak.

"What," he asked, "did I say?  _Don't_  try anything! Didn't I say not to try anything? Look! Now you're bleeding."

Sutton waved the comment away with as steady of a motion as she could muster.

"The-the nose bleed thing is normal."

"Oh really? How about your eyes?"  
Sutton startled and reached up to run her middle finger under her eye. Blood smeared over the pad of her finger and she stared at it dumbly.

"I just- I was just trying to imagine he didn't exist. I didn't-"

Pepper sat a first aid kit down on the bench next to her and passed Tony a couple wipes.

"Did you ever consider that might be too much for the people from your world to buy? Tony mentioned that you told everyone he was supposed to be an upcoming threat."

Sutton took the wipe from Tony's hand to clean her face on her own.

"It worked for a minute the last time I tried it," she argued. "I can't just do nothing. This is all-" she waved her arms around helplessly, "this is all I can do." Her voice cracked. "What is the point of being able to manipulate worlds if I can't use it? How am I supposed to save all of you?"

"You're not supposed to be able to manipulate worlds," Tony pointed out. "Not like this. And maybe if you stopped long enough to accept help, we could all figure something out together."

"Or maybe you all die! I can't face that, Tony. I already saw it. I can't-" She shook her head. "Loki said I had to do something. To act."

Tony threw up his hands in frustration, palms up.

"God of Mischief and Lies? Ring a bell?"

"Let's just all calm down a minute," Pepper cut in. She put a hand on Tony's shoulder and squeezed in warning. "We're all stressed, ok? Arguing isn't going to help."

Sutton and Tony both paused, lips twisting down, before they slumped over in resignation.

She wiped once more at her eyes. The blood looked pink on the wet tissue. At least it'd stopped.

"This doesn't mean I'm giving up," she said. Tony huffed.

"Good luck getting out of the Tower, Small Fry."


	11. Chapter 11

They traveled back up to Tony and Pepper's penthouse after finishing in the lab. Sutton didn't continue to insist on leaving. But she also didn't tell them that she wouldn't try. Instead she called out to Jarvis, asking the AI to turn on the news to see if there was anything about Steve and the others. At first there was nothing. Just typical stories about the weather and a local mugging. But then the _breaking news_ bar popped up on the bottom of the screen and Sutton leaned forward on the couch.

Three enormous helicarriers had risen up over D.C. Sutton bit at her thumbnail, unable to tear her eyes away from the TV. This was it. They'd either succeed or they wouldn't.

_But they would._

"I believe in you."

Pepper turned to Tony.

"Are those the things Fury consulted you on?"

"Just the repulsor technology. I didn't know they'd go into mass killing machines."

The helicarriers hovered like great, menacing metal beasts over the Potomac for a period of time. And then they moved. In formation, they began to cut across the sky; passed the river and out over land. A chopper followed them at a distance, watching as they flew a path directly towards the Atlantic.

Sutton wasn't sure what to think. It had to be interference from the team. There was no reason for Pierce to send them out over open water first. Surely he'd have started thinning the masses closer to home. But then it made an alarming amount of sense. The helicarriers turned on each other. Each ship aimed their guns at the other until they created a closed triangle of destruction.

And then they shot each other down into the ocean.

Sutton let out a short relieved laugh as the helicarriers fell to unsalvageable pieces. The fiery chunks of metal crashed into the water and her relief slowly dimmed.

"Where are they?"

She turned to face Tony and Pepper.

"Those things can be flown remotely, right? They weren't in there."

Neither of them knew any more than she did. They cast uneasy glances at each other and Sutton pressed her knuckles to her lips as she held her waist with the other hand.

"He didn't do it again, did he? Steve didn't-"

But the helicopter had backed away from the scene because of the falling debris, and she couldn't make out any distinct shapes. Couldn't see any escaping figures if there were any. Focusing on the TV was starting to give her a headache; Sutton looked away and rubbed at her temples. The news report went silent and Pepper reassuringly ran a hand over her shoulder.

"I'm sure the others are safe. They know what they're doing."

Sutton lifted her eyes.

"Pepper, you've _met_ them."

More noise came from the direction of the television and Sutton grimaced. There was murmuring chatter and it scraped against the inside of her head sharply.

_They had to be alive._

"Hey, could you mute the TV for a bit," she asked. She rubbed at her temples again. "I think it's messing with my concussion."  
"The TV is already off, Sutton."

She peeked over to Pepper and then glanced at the television. She couldn't see it. Instead there was man in a suit and bow tie. He was chatting, his words indecipherable, with a bartender in a busy club. Or a bar. Sutton wasn't sure which. Her face scrunched down as she stared at the scene. The longer she stared, the more clear it appeared to be. The murmurs grew until she could hear separate words.

It almost looked real.

Like it was actually there.

" _Shaken, not stirred."_

Sutton slowly stood, still eyeing the scene. How long would it actually last? She edged towards it.

"Sutton?"  
She held up a finger to signal them to wait. Limped closer. There was a distinct wood grain pattern on the bar countertop. There were flecks of gray in Bond's hair.

She reached forward and static crackled at her fingertips.

"Sutton!"  
There was a sharpness to the tone that had her turning. Tony and Pepper were watching her with wary expressions and she glanced back briefly. The scene was was gone.

"I could see it like it was here," she explained. "I could hear Bond talking."  
Tony shook his head.

"If I didn't know where you were from, I'd think you were crazy right now." He tilted his head a bit to the side. "Still might."  
She rubbed a hand down her face, wincing as she forgot about the scraped skin, and shook her head.

"Never mind," she said. "Never mind. I have to find out if they're ok, and then I need to go- uh." She noted Tony's deadpan look. "I need to rest? Definitely, rest."

He pressed his lips together and didn't even feign amusement.

**[]**

They didn't really have a way to get ahold of any of the missing team members. Sutton didn't think they had their phones and Clint never told her his method of communicating with Nat.

Pepper had to take care of more Stark business and Tony had agreed to fly down to do a sweep and see if he could spot any of the team where the debris had gone down. He had tried to order her to not move from the couch, but Sutton wasn't feeling particularly cooperative

Sutton managed to trade the sweats for a pair of jeans and she loitered on the couch until Tony had been gone about twenty minutes. Alone in Tony and Pepper's penthouse, Sutton scooted to the edge of the couch and eyed the ceiling.

"Jarvis?"  
 _[Yes, Miss Regan.]_

"What will happen if I try to leave the penthouse?"  
The AI paused.

_[I'm afraid Mr. Stark has expressly stated that you do not have authorization to leave this floor.]_

Sutton groaned and rubbed at the back of her head.

"Alright," she said. "Then, actually, can I ask you some, uh, maybe personal questions?"

_[I am an artificial intelligence program created by Mr. Stark. I do not believe personal questions apply to me.]_

Sutton rolled her eyes with a small smirk.

"Well, if you don't feel like answering a question, you don't have to. So, um, what exactly is your main programing function?"

_[I manage many different functions. Primarily I ensure that all tasks Mr. Stark finds valuable are running smoothly and protected.]_

The word "protected" caught Sutton's attention. She stood from the couch and paced a few steps. Tried to gauge how much pain it caused. (A lot.)

"Would you say that part of that is protecting Tony himself?"  
 _[His personal well-being is a constant concern.]_

She smiled softly in agreement.

"I can imagine," she said. "And, ok this next question is a bit weird, but bear with me. Just how much, um, free will do you have? To make decisions on your own based on risk and benefit?"

Jarvis was quiet a bit longer. Like he was thinking.

_[Mr. Stark has given my programing room for making decisions based off advances in knowledge and experience.]_

It was the best she could hope for at the moment.

"Alright, so can we agree that, given what you already know about my situation, my being here is a direct risk to Tony's well-being?"  
Once more, Jarvis seemed hesitant to answer. When he spoke, there was an odd layer of caution to his tone.

_[Your presence may add additional… complications. However Mr. Stark-]_

"He's not thinking logically about this, Jarvis," Sutton cut in. "I know he's trying to protect me, but I'm one person. There are so many more people in this building. And I am literally a beacon for disaster right now. The most sensible thing to do to protect Tony and his assets, not to mention the other people in this building, would be to let me go."

More silence. If an AI could have a crisis of morality, she'd probably just given Jarvis one. She knew he was loyal to Tony, but she also knew that Jarvis seemed to develop more and more of a real personality as time went on. Some sort of will had to develop with that. And if he was still sticking with the programming he'd been given, at least she'd tried to appeal to that as well.

"If I don't leave Tony and Pepper could get hurt."

Still, he didn't speak and Sutton worried that maybe her feat of logic had been dismissed. Maybe Jarvis wouldn't stray from blatant orders.

_[Mr. Stark will not be pleased.]_

Relief flooded her and Sutton craned her head towards the ceiling.

"You can place all the blame on me, Jarvis. But tell him that I'm sorry for making him worry. And tell him I love him. That's why I'm doing this."

The elevator doors dinged open and Sutton hurried towards them before Jarvis changed his mind.

 _[I cannot guarantee he will not immediately try to track you.]_ Jarvis warned her. _[But, Miss Regan?]_

Sutton leaned against the elevator wall and watched the doors slide shut.

"Yes?"  
 _[Please try to stay safe.]_

**[][][]**

If Sutton were being completely honest with herself, she had no idea what she was doing. She continued to rest her weight against the back wall of the elevator as it began its descent to the ground floor. She had until then to come up with something.

And she hated herself a little bit at the moment. Because her chest ached when she thought of Tony coming back to find her gone. Of feeling that betrayal.

But she had to! It was one of the only ways to make sure he made it out of all that was about to happen alive. She couldn't protect him any other way. And the longer she stayed in his penthouse, the harder it would be to convince herself to leave. To do something.

It wasn't Tony's job to figure out how to solve this.

This was all because of her, and she had to bear that.

"Oh, _please_ do tell me what completely idiotic plan you're going to try next."  
Sutton jolted, but didn't shout, as Loki's figure appeared beside her. She closed her eyes as she blew air out of her nose and grit her teeth.

"Please don't tell me you're going to be a regular fixture in my life now."

Loki pinned her with a look while he picked at his nails idly.

"Are you going to continue to try and defeat Him with the most obvious, ill-conceived attempts I've ever witnessed?"

Sutton blinked, furrowed her brow, opened and closed her mouth a few times.

"How did you-were you in the room?"

"I wouldn't have even had to be to feel that. Congratulations. If He didn't know you existed before, He surely felt that pitiful attempt on His life."

Her stomach dropped out.

"You could sense that?"  
"You _were_ attempting to alter this world, were you not? Not exactly a subtle magic."

The elevator continued to descend, along with Sutton's hopes and expectations for her future. She closed her eyes again and let her head hit the elevator wall.

"Are you here to abduct me too?"  
Loki scoffed.

"As highly as you must think of yourself, I'm not drawing that beast straight to me. You're safe from me, at least."

"Did you get rid of… Khan?"  
"You haven't kept your end of the bargain yet."

Sutton let out a frustrated screech.

"I tried! I don't know what else to do!"  
"Try being a bit more creative."

"So easy for you to say, mister _Hide-In-The-Shadows."_

But Loki was gone as the elevator doors dinged open. Sutton glared at the spot he'd been standing then hobbled out into the lobby of the building.

That ibuprofen was only doing so much for her leg. It still felt like she was rubbing nerve endings together with every step. The idea of just going back up to Tony's penthouse was more appealing than it should have been. Sutton grit her teeth behind closed lips and continued for the main doors.

She still didn't know what she was doing.

Basically her plans boiled down to _don't get caught by Khan_ , _get rid of Thanos before he arrived,_ _make sure Loki kept his end of their 'bargain'._

The specifics of _how_ were a bit iffy.

She made her way out onto the sidewalk and looked around, unsure of which direction to go. _Where_ was she even planning on going? To do what?

"Think, Sutton," she muttered to herself. "Be _creative_." She mocked Loki's voice in disdain. " _Ugh._ Such a pompous jerk."  
Sutton waffled a minute in indecision. Then she huffed, turned right, and started walking.

Her mind wandered before she'd even made it an entire block.

Would Tony find anyone or come back with news? Were Nat and Sam ok? Was Steve? Her heart lurched. If he'd tried to crash another flying vehicle into a body of water, she was going to make sure he was alive enough to have words with.

Sutton ran her hands through her hair and tried not to drown in _what-ifs_? She had enough on her plate with trying to save the planet from an evil, purple freak as it was.

The streets of New York were as bustling and noisy as usual. She decided that she had to get out of New York. They'd already gone through so much with the alien invasion. They'd only just finished all of the reconstruction efforts in the last year.

Just in case, she reminded herself. Get out just in case. Maybe she'd take care of all these problems before they manifested!

She just had to believe in herself, right?

Sure.

One of the nice things about the city that hadn't changed, Sutton had noticed, was that largely people didn't care to pay attention to anyone else. She'd ridden the subway once and someone had been dressed in a giant Scooby-Doo costume. Hardly anyone had batted an eye. So the fact that she was dragging one leg behind her and her face was a bit raw in some spots went largely unnoticed. It may be the one thing going in her favor at the moment, what with no IDs, no money, and no means of contacting anyone.

Sutton felt like she was right where she'd been when jumping universes.

Her leg absolutely roared as she continued to use it. Not even out of sight of the Tower and she was already questioning her decision making.

No. _For Tony._ For Pepper. For everyone in that building who didn't even know her.

If only there were a way for her to get _somewhere_ faster. At the rate she was going, Tony could just do a fly by and pick her up like take-out on his way home if Jarvis snitched on her.

Preferably, she'd like to be somewhere far away. Out of reach of Khan and whatever HYDRA goons were left so that she could have a moment to think about the Thanos issue without worrying about anything else. Maybe like Tony's place in California.

What with it's perch right on the ocean and wide pristine windows, she could see herself relaxing there. For a moment.

It'd been a long time since she'd last breathed west coast air. Even California would be a welcome change at this point.

The air in front of her rippled and Sutton heard waves. She stumbled backwards, biting her lower lip harshly as she accidentally put extra weight on her bad leg. Instead of a busy sidewalk she could see, almost, a hole in the air. Like someone had torn a patch from the fabric of existence. And there, in the distance, was Tony's beach house.

Sutton stood still. Curled her fingers together and held her thumbs against her lips as she remained unmoving in the middle of the sidewalk. People walked passed her. People walked through the tear. She shifted forwards, her face crinkling in concentration as she focused on the image before her.

The exact place she'd just been thinking about.

Her hand reached up, fingers skimming cautiously along the air as she neared the space. There was the same crackle of static. An uneasy leap in her stomach. Sutton paused; pulled back her shoulders and pushed her hand out further. Her fingers sank into the mirage, a sharp shock ran up her arm. There was a bite at her chest. She jumped back and let out a yelp. A harsh tingle was still coursing through her arm and she tried to shake it out. Droplets flew off her hand as she moved. Sutton brought her fingers closer to her face. She could smell the briny scent of ocean water.

"Holy crap."

The opposite hand rose up to rub around the reactor. She hoped that it hadn't been affected. Or at least not affected enough for Jarvis to ping Tony.

Sutton deliberated as the image in front of her flickered. Soon it would fade out like all the others.

She took a deep breath and jumped.

**[]**

An electric current went through her entire body this time. It wasn't quite as painful as hopping complete universes, but it was enough to make her muscles seize.

Sutton gasped and sputtered as she fell onto hard pavement and rolled once on Tony's large driveway. She sat up and wheezed. Her chest felt tight and even though the audible alert had been switched off, there was a long, dull tone as the arc reactor light flickered momentarily. The constant, familiar current to her heart stuttered. Went back to normal.

She didn't move.

"Ok." She whispered when it appeared that her reactor wasn't about to completely shut down. "Ok, so I won't be doing that again."

The Malibu home spread out in front of her like some sort of geometric puzzle. Like all of Tony's buildings, it was sleek and extremely contemporary. Parts of this home reminded her of the USS Enterprise.

Sutton shuddered. Tried to forget that.

Luckily she'd landed relatively close to the house. Or at least close enough that she wouldn't be trying to imagine a car in order to get to the front door. A bit of red was starting to leak through the leg of her jeans and she groaned.

It was dark inside the house. Obviously no one was using it at the moment. Sutton peered through the front windows and tapped on the door.

"Uh, Jarvis? Are you connected here?"

There was no immediate response, and Sutton wasn't sure if there was going to be an answer. She sank down with her back against the front door as she stared back down the driveway.

It didn't really matter, she supposed. She could do some thinking perfectly fine from outside as well. Just-just maybe she wanted to give the reactor some time to settle before she tried anything. And maybe she should come up with a better idea than her previous try.

What would stop a terrifying Titan of doom that people in her world would actually believe? She really wished they would've gone for her first attempt.

"Thanks guys," she muttered. "Way to make my life easier."

Perhaps she could just believe that Thanos was actually weak? That the Avengers combined efforts would be enough to defeat him?

That thought made her feel queasy. She didn't want it getting that close. She didn't want it to come to a fight.

She closed her eyes again and cleared her mind. Mulled scenarios around in her mind for awhile.

_Maybe-_

There was a clicking behind her. Sutton opened her eyes and leaned away from the door to turn towards the noise. Lights popped on inside the house and Sutton scrunched her face in confusion. Grunting, she slowly pushed herself to her feet and leaned against the wall of the house to keep the weight off her leg.

The front door opened easily when she tried it again.

Sutton hobbled inside. She looked around as she made her way through the open living room, glanced at the ocean briefly. Nostalgia rippled through her core.

_West coast skyline._

"Um, Jarvis?"

_[Miss Regan, you have an incoming call.]_

There was a reverberating noise, like a phone picked up off the receiver, that echoed through the room. Sutton's eyes widened as she licked her lips nervously.

"Oh no."  
" _Oh no is right. You're done, kid. I'm grounding you for real."_

Sutton scoffed as Tony's voice filled the room.

"You can't ground me, Tony. I'm a grown woman."  
" _Watch me. And how the heck did you even get to California in the forty-five minutes I left you alone? I go to check on your boyfriend, and this is the thanks I get?"_

She perked up a bit, too concerned to admonish Tony for the teasing.

"Is Steve ok?"

"I shouldn't tell you anything after the stunt you pulled. Do you know what kind of alert I got from Jarvis? _Huh?_ A near complete reactor shutdown! That's _my tech._ It doesn't shutdown."

"Well I wasn't planning on jumping through a portal again if it makes you feel any better."

It was quiet for a moment and then Sutton could hear him groan in exasperation.

" _Jarvis,"_ he said, " _put Malibu on total lockdown. This time if you let her out I'm replacing you with FRIDAY."_

_[Understood, sir.]_

Sutton bristled even while she lowered herself to sit on one of the couches.

"You can't do that! Look, I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't want to- I didn't want to leave like that. But you know what's going on. I couldn't put you and your building in danger."

" _So you just go jumping through random portals? Because that's so much less dangerous._

She couldn't really argue with him there. Sutton crossed her arms and looked back out over the ocean.

"Is Steve ok," she asked again. "And Nat and Sam?"

" _I was informed that they're alive and fine. Capsicle is right here."_

"What!"

She sat up straighter on the couch and ran a hand through her hair. One part relief and one part irritation flooded her as the information sank in. She closed her eyes and pressed her palm against one eye socket as she let out a breath.

He hadn't crashed again. He was ok.

Tony's muttering faded, though she heard him grumble,

" _Maybe you can talk some sense into her."_

Her anxiety spiked again, though she wasn't quite sure why. She twisted her fingers around each other and kept her eyes locked on the churning ocean.

" _Sutton,"_ Steve's voice sounded through the room. " _You're alright? Bucky said- he said you were screaming-"_

"He found you," she said. Relief hinted in her tone.

" _Yeah. For a bit. There was a bit of a skirmish, but- that's not as important right now. Sutton."_ He paused and she pressed her lips tightly together as she watched the waves crash against each other. " _What are you doing?"_

"Everything I can to protect all of you? But I can't _think_ with you all talking to me; I'm sorry."

In the distance she could hear Tony pipe back up, telling Steve to tell _her_ that she wasn't allowed to think anymore. Steve sighed.

" _Tony told me about Khan. And Loki."_

"Then you know how bad it is."

" _I know that you're scared. That's why you need to let us help you. No one goes into a war alone."_

Sutton wasn't sure if she wanted to strangle him or ki-HUG. Hug him. Because he was being such a considerate and caring _friend._

For the time being she'd stick with strangle.

She looked back down at her jeans as she scratched a fingernail idly at the denim. Noted the small stains of red that had leaked through the gauze. Perhaps she shouldn't have been walking around on the injury so much.

"Am I on speakerphone or is Tony just standing uncomfortably close to you?"  
" _Speaker, why?"_

Sutton hissed through her teeth. Tried to whisper.

"I just need to change the gauze on my leg, but I don't want to walk all the way to the bathroom if there isn't a first aid kit. Is there a way you can subtly ask Tony-"

" _I can hear you,"_ Tony shouted. " _In a couple of hours you're in so much trouble. Sit still until then."_

" _You're changing the subject."_

She rolled her eyes peevishly.

"Well, how about this? I have a couple of hours to come up with something. If I don't, we can try things your guys' way."

Both Steve and Tony sounded like they were disapproving at the same time.

 _Dang,_ Sutton thought. _That would have been the perfect moment to dramatically hang up._


	12. Chapter 12

Jarvis refused to hang up on Tony, despite how politely she asked. He must have felt as though he’d already pushed the boundaries of Tony’s patience enough for one day. Sutton was afraid that she’d be on the line the entire time it took for someone to fly over. Like maybe they’d try to keep her talking so she couldn’t try to fix this on her own like she planned. 

But they eventually hung up. Though not before trying to make her promise not to attempt anything rash. 

Sutton promised she wouldn’t be  _ rash _ .

The house went silent. Sutton sat, immobile and stoic for some minutes. The longer she sat, the more that dread compacted inside her and squeezed against her ribs. 

_ Soon, soon, soon. _

It took some convincing, but she finally forced herself to stand and she made her way over to the front door just to try it. As she had been so obviously informed, it wouldn’t budge.

So she had a couple of hours or so. She wasn’t sure exactly how many. 

“Alright,” she tried to reassure herself. “No problem. It shouldn’t take that long to think of a reasonable solution. And imagining things doesn’t take any time at all. This is doable.”

“You are from a universe of stories, surely you can think of something.” 

She jumped, jostling her leg again as she twisted to face the voice. 

“ _ Freaking flambé! _ Can you  _ stop  _ doing that?” 

Loki sat on the opposite end of the couch. He was leaned forward, a bit less casual looking than the last time. Sutton noted that it seemed like he had a few extra pieces of armor on that hadn’t been there before. She felt a chill sweep through her. 

“How close is he?”   
Loki’s mouth ticked and his fingers curled in a brief, jerking movement. 

“Close enough that you should be putting a bit more effort into this.” 

“I just saw you- You know what? You’re not really very helpful. Either you have some ideas or you don’t! So do you have something to say, or are you just set on appearing every few hours to toss ominous warnings at me?” 

That earned her an admonishing look as Loki flared his nostrils. She crossed her arms in aggravation and sneered right back.

“If I assist you too much, He may start to suspect me. And if you manage to fail, I would rather not be next on His list.” 

“Thanos-” 

_ “SHH.”  _ Sutton widened her eyes as she tilted her head to the side in frustration. Loki held up his hands, as if trying to ward her off from making the same mistake twice. When she remained quiet, he ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat. “You mentioned Nothing,” he said. “Use that.” 

Sutton flicked her hands out to the sides, gesturing emptily. 

“Nothing? You want me to use  _ nothing _ against him? Oh my gosh, you’re useless. If you’re going to be like this, you can leave. Or I can always call Tony and Steve back and tell them you’re here. Maybe  _ imagine  _ that they reach me a bit faster than anticipated.” 

Loki glared right back. 

“You ungrateful child. Once the dimensional walls fully refortify, you’ll no longer be able to peel them apart on your whim.” She waved flippantly at him.

“Goodbye!”    
He stood then and brushed off some imaginary dust from his dark green tunic. 

“You are from a universe of stories,” he said again. “Maybe you should start thinking like it.” His eyes snapped down to accuse her. “You already tried the easy way. Now actually  _ think _ . When did the course of a story ever run smooth?”   
Sutton pressed her palms together, pushed the edges of her fingers against her lips.

“Get out.”   
Loki shook his head and slowly disappeared from view. She kept staring at the place he’d been. 

She didn’t like his implications. She didn’t like them one bit. 

The couch was her friend as she sat and thought everything over. Sometimes the easy answer was the right one! Just because it hadn’t worked didn’t mean it had been stupid to try, right? At least she knew now that she couldn’t have gotten everything solved within ten minutes. 

Sutton closed her eyes and steepled her fingers. Stories. She could do stories. She could do this. 

Maybe, maybe there could be interference because she was from another universe? That could throw him off. Make it a bit more difficult for him to locate her instead of easy. And it made sense. At least she could make it make sense in her head. 

Then, then maybe Thanos wasn’t well prepared. Maybe he was jumping into this based on the shockwaves she gave off. He didn’t know what to expect. Perhaps he’d be apt to underestimate the situation. Be cocky. 

A secret weakness. The idea sprang up. Didn’t villains often have some small, unknown weakness that cropped up in the last narrative arc? If she could give him one and take advantage of it before things got messy, maybe this could all be over before it began. 

Just like she’d hoped. 

Big, purple alien who had a superiority complex. Liked special rocks. What could she do with that? Well, she didn’t really know anything about him. There was nothing for her to go off of. 

She could believe whatever she wanted.

He monologued, she decided. He had a thing for listening himself talk and-and he was susceptible to laser fire? Maybe if he was shot at a high enough power? Ah! His powers were limited to where he could directly see. 

Sutton smiled briefly. That sounded good. Doable. 

Energy crackled in her limbs. She forced air through her nose as she tried to commit to this idea. To make it stick. 

_ Universe, don’t fail me now. _

The lightning sparking through her heated, nipped at the underside of her skin, and Sutton grit her teeth. Tried to let it move how it wanted while she kept herself focused on believing all this was true. 

And then something slammed against her mind. 

Sutton let out a cry and pressed herself against the back of the couch. Something was crowding her. Pressing against her consciousness. Digging in. It felt like she was being stepped on by a large, heavy foot. 

_ “You.” _

That wasn’t Loki’s voice. That wasn’t any voice she’d ever heard before. It was incredibly low, gravelly. It carried a presence and an authority that had her shaking. 

_ Terror. _

It boiled coldly in her stomach and overflowed, spilling out into the rest of her. 

_ “This is the second time that you have attempted to use your magic against  _ _ me _ _.” _

Sutton’s eyes snapped open and she stared wildly and unseeing out in front of her. Her hand rose to her throat as the terror clawed its way up.

“Oh, oh lord.”    
  


Him. It was  _ Him. _

The pressing presence didn’t let up. She felt the weight sink down heavier even as she scrambled off the couch in a desperate bid to flee. 

_ “You are bold for attempting to use a power that you do not know how to wield. But I will. I will give you purpose.”  _

Sutton gagged as she was bombarded with images. 

Humanoid beings screamed and ran as the skies cracked and shattered above them. Buildings crumbled, land masses split, planets burned. Moons imploded into dust. Entire civilizations were torn down and demolished. Countless, countless dead. And above it all, smug, victorious laughter.

_ “How pleased will Death be, when I offer her the souls of those previously outside even her grasp? New souls from worlds untouched? And all thanks to you, the one who can rip through walls.” _

She crawled across the floor on hands and knees desperately trying to escape. The sights, the force, was suffocating. It wasn’t a foot, it was a hand. Large, fat fingers wrapped around her and squeezed. 

_ “You call out so loudly. Not even trying to hide. So I will answer. I will make you my Destroyer of Worlds.” _

“No!”   
  


Stars shattered and earth upon earth upon earth crumbled, and burned, and tore apart. 

_ “Mercy is for the weak. And I have none. Do not make the mistake of threatening me again.” _

Sutton cried, even as the pressure released and the crowded feeling in her skull dissipated. She cried as every nightmare she’d shoved away was dredged up. Endless space and destruction. 

Her greatest fear. Herself. 

The images, the visions, that had been forced on her were too vivid. Too sharp. She didn’t know what was worse. The echoing memory of alien beings screaming, or the sight of an entire planet being ripped to pieces. Silent in the vastness of space. 

Her bottom lip trembled as a new, terrible revelation slithered in. 

Her earth. The one that still held her mother and Howard and Tyrese. There was a possibility that, with her, He could reach them. 

Sutton wrapped her arms around her torso and sucked in air. 

She had to get out. She had to get away. She had to hide. 

_ [Miss Regan, are you alright?] _

She flinched as another bodiless voice rang through the house.  _ Jarvis, _ her mind supplied.  _ It’s Jarvis.  _

“Let me out,” she demanded. Her voice was breaking, desperate. “You have to let me out. I have to- I have to get out of here.” 

_ [I’m afraid I can’t.] _

“Jarvis, let me out!”    
Sutton’s legs kicked out as she tried to find purchase on the slick floor. The muscle in her left leg gave out momentarily as she got to her feet, and she staggered before moving forwards. 

_ [Perhaps you should try three second breaths, Miss?] _

She rushed to the front door, her knuckles pale as she pulled incessantly on the door handle. 

_ [Please at least try.] _

Something in her urged her to listen. It took her a couple attempts to get it right. She inhaled deeply, held it, then slowly exhaled. The room shifted slightly and she shook her head. 

“You still need to let me out. I’m a sitting duck. Please, Jarvis.” 

_ [I’m sorry.]  _

The AI’s refusal only mildly deterred her. She dragged herself around the house, despite the pain and blood that she was pumping up out of her wound. Every door to the outside, every window, remained stubbornly shut. Sutton stopped somewhere downstairs. She couldn’t even get out via the lab. 

Too tired to make her way back up to the main living room, she slid down one of the walls in the corner and curled up into herself.

The house was silent. Jarvis wasn’t much for small talk, and that only left her with her own thoughts. Forced, by some sick perversion, to relive what had just happened again and again. She shook; tried not to. 

She let her left leg stretch out on the floor, but brought up her right in order to rest her forehead on her knee. She tried to breathe like Jarvis had instructed again. 

It only worked for so long. The silence became too much far too quickly. With the house being unused, there wasn’t the whirring of appliances to fill the space. Tony’s lights didn’t even hum. She didn’t like total silence. 

“Jarvis? Can you put on some music?”    
_ [What would you like to listen to?] _

“I don’t care. Whatever Tony last had on. Just make it loud.”

AC/DC began blaring through the room and Sutton closed her eyes again. Let the music fill of the space where her thoughts had been. 

Or at least tried. 

What if it came down to her or  _ every _ universe? Because that was what was at stake. What was she willing to risk to beat this? 

What were the odds that she could succeed? 

[][]

Sutton stirred, blinking out of the trance-like state she'd slipped into. Her muscles were stiff and sore from the way she’d been sitting and there was a definite crick in her neck. Her leg ached more than ever as she tried to stretch out her limbs. Heavy rock still blared through the house, but something had alerted her. 

The music suddenly lowered in volume, without her request, and Sutton clenched her hands into fists. 

“Sutton? Sutton!”    
_ [Downstairs, sir.] _

There was a rumbling of footsteps from the stairwell down the hall. Still, she didn’t move. She recognized the worried voice. 

Tony came into view and his pace quickened slightly when he spotted her. She was mildly surprised to see Steve follow after him. He’d actually come. 

“What are you doing down here? You shouldn’t be moving around on that leg so much. Look at it.” 

Sutton glanced down and noted the growing stain of blood seeping through her jeans. She looked back up at Tony and blinked. 

“Whoops.” 

Tony threw a look back at Steve and shifted out of the way. 

“Wanna help out, Cap?”   
Steve stepped forward. He eased his arms around her, lifting her in a bridal carry effortlessly and followed after Tony as they made their way into the lab. 

“Are you feeling alright,” Steve asked. She wanted to give him an honest answer. Something about him always made her want to be honest. 

“It’s really cold in space,” she told him. “Did you know that? You can still feel it, even inside the ships. And it’s quiet. Too quiet.” 

Tony flinched at her words. Steve looked to him, his gaze worried. 

“Something happened.” 

Tony cleared off a tabletop and Steve gently lowered her down onto it. Her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt and he stilled, staying close. 

“Are you going to tell us what happened,” Tony asked. He didn’t stop moving. She watched as he dug under the table for another first aid kit. “Or am I going to have to get Jarvis to do a playback?”    
Sutton’s breath hitched momentarily. Her grip tightened around Steve’s arm before she realized what she was doing and quickly let go. 

“Sorry,” she murmured. Steve shook his head as he half sat on the table next to her and placed a warm hand on her right knee. Sutton watched it all with a distant feeling of perplexedness. She liked it. 

Tony snapped his fingers in front of her face. 

“I’m going to need you to focus, Small Fry. Don’t tell me that concussion is getting worse.”

She licked her lips and bit down as she fished for the words. Dragged them up from the depths of herself. 

“I tried things my way,” she said. 

Both men frowned and glanced at each other. Tony’s jaw was stiff. Steve looked a bit more unsure. He hadn’t been there last time. He hadn’t seen it. Tony moved closer to pull down on her eyelids. 

“I don’t see any signs of bleeding,” he said. She swatted his hand away. 

“No. I- I had a plan. A better one. Only, only  _ He  _ noticed.” Her face crinkled, lip pulling up on one side as she looked out into the distance. “He can feel it. He can-speak. Show you things.” 

Tony turned away, arms reaching up to aggressively rub at the back of his head. Steve shifted. 

“When you say  _ he,  _ you mean-” 

Sutton swiveled quickly. Put a hand against his mouth. 

“Don’t. Don’t say His name.” 

He only looked more concerned as he pulled her hand away, running his palm down her arm in what might have been an attempt to comfort her. 

“Alright,” he reassured. “I won’t. But, do you need to talk about it?” 

Her gaze flickered to Tony. He was facing them again, waiting.

“No.” She shifted to face Steve fully. “But I do need you to promise me something.” 

“What?” 

She started to speak then stopped herself. 

“Tony,” she said. “Can you leave for a second?”    
Tony raised an eyebrow and pulled his head into his neck. 

“Excuse me?” 

“Out of the room,” Sutton explained.

“No I understood that. I’m just not sure what it is you’re getting at.”

Sutton closed her eyes, slumping in frustration for a moment, before she straightened back up and pleaded with him. 

“Please. I promise after this I’ll cooperate. We can do things your guys’ way. Just- I need a minute first.”

He shot her a stiff smile and twitched his head as he relented. She’d wounded him. She could see it in the way he held himself. In his eyes. 

“Sure thing,” he said sharply. “You got it. Let me know when you’re done sharing secrets.”   
Sutton rubbed at the spot between her eyes as he left the lab. 

“What is it,” Steve asked once the doors had hissed shut. Sutton forced herself to focus. She looked up at Steve with a severe expression. 

“I don’t know what else to do, so I’ll-I’ll go along with trying this with help. But, if this gets bad- If it doesn’t work and-and it’s looking like,  _ oh gosh _ , like we might not pull through… I need you to promise. I need you to promise me that you’ll make sure He can’t access any other worlds.” 

Steve stared at her in confusion. 

“I’m not sure what you’re asking me to do.” 

Sutton grit her teeth. 

“I’m the one who can access those worlds, Steve. I’ll need you to make sure that link is severed.”

Steve pulled away from her, his expression morphing into one of repulsion. 

“Are you asking me to-to  _ kill you _ ?” She didn’t say anything. Steve stood up and paced in front of her. “No. No, I’m not doing that. How could you even ask that?” 

“Because Tony won’t.” 

“And I seem like the kind of guy that would?”   
“No!”    
  


A throaty growl slipped out as she clenched her hands into fists. She’d have to actually tell him if she wanted him to understand. The room settled into silence as he waited. Sutton steepled her fingers, tapped them against her lips.

“I know you’re not,” she said. “But there aren’t many people to ask.” She bit her lip. “Steve, He wants to destroy the planet. And not just this earth. Every earth. He’s-He’s sick.” Her eyes stung. “I don’t  _ want  _ to die, but if He’s too strong-” 

Steve actually cut her off. He moved in front of her as she stayed sitting on the table and gripped her shoulders. Demanded her attention. Sutton stared widely up into his deep blue eyes. 

“Look, I get it,” he said. “You’re scared, and you have every right to be. And I know that when people are scared sometimes their imaginations can run wild. But, Sutton, you don’t get that luxury. You can’t. I’ve never really understood completely how your ability worked, but you can’t give this guy even a little bit of wiggle room. Not if we want to win this.”

Sutton bowed her head and exhaled slowly. She felt like a bit more reason had crept into her jumbled, panicked thoughts. Where did he pull these speeches from? How did he always have such clarity? 

“You’re right,” she said with resignation. “How do you do it?  _ Gah,  _ I’m constantly a mess. You all must get so sick of me.”

Steve shook his head again, shifted back to sit next to her and leaned his elbows against his knees. 

“Naw,” he mused. “You’re not a mess; just genuine.” Sutton watched him move to cross his arms; almost like he was restless. “Did you know you’re the only person who doesn’t call me Cap?”

She frowned as she processed the words. 

“It’s not your name.”   
He let out a short chuckle.

“I know. But that’s still how a lot of people see me. And I don’t stop them. Sometimes- it’s good to be reminded that I’m Steve too. It’s grounding. You bring a lot to the table. Don’t ever sell yourself so short.” 

Sutton almost melted. Warmth bloomed in her chest and she fought back a beaming smile as she looked up at him and ducked her head a bit. Stopped. 

“Wait. Did you-did you just make a  _ short joke at me? _ ”

Steve blinked, his face flashing in surprise, and he snorted. 

“Oh-”

Sutton picked up a roll of gauze from the forgotten first aid kit and chucked it at him as Steve hopped away laughing. 

“And here I thought you were being sweet!”   
“Ah, come on. You know I didn’t mean-”

There was a loud crash and the sound of shattering glass from upstairs. 

They both froze.  

Steve’s hesitation lasted only a split second. 

“Stay here.”   
  


He shot out of the lab and ran up the stairs, skipping two at a time on his way up. Sutton instantly disregarded the order and eased off the table to follow after him. 

Stairs. The stairs were a mistake. She should never have gone down them. But there were the sounds of a fight above her and she had to see what was going on. By the time she reached the top of the stairs, the sounds had escalated. She could hear the high whine of Tony’s repulsor winding up to shoot and a  _ twang _ as something ricocheted off a metal surface.  

She stood at the edge of the stairwell slightly out of breath. Tony and Steve were in the middle of fighting a familiar figure. 

Khan had crashed through one of the taller windows and glass lay scattered over the living room. It appeared he’d stored more than just the phaser on his person when coming over. He had another, more vicious looking, gun that he shot repeatedly in Steve’s direction. Steve had his shield and he raised it to block the beams, dodging and maneuvering as they came at him. Tony was catching his breath behind a wall, one arm wrapped in his armor before he darted back out and shot some blasts of his own. 

Khan’s expression was gritty, almost irate. As if having to deal with this was beneath him. Sutton felt the familiar, conditioned fear flicker in her stomach. 

And then a sudden calm. 

Like when Nat had snuck into that building for Sam’s gear, there were just some things she knew. Like a constant truth. She’d known without prompting that Nat would succeed because she believed in Nat and her experience. Because she knew that they needed what was in that building. 

And she knew, now, that she believed in Steve and Tony’s abilities. Their experience. They had intelligence and powers of their own that could rival Khan. 

To her, he was a threat. By herself, she feared him. 

But not with Tony and Steve. 

“Hey, Cap!”   
“On it.”   
  


Steve angled his shield and Tony shot another blast directly at it. The energy bounced off and hit Khan square in the chest. Khan stumbled back with a pained grunt, and Steve leapt forward. He took two bounding steps before he pushed off with the ball of his foot. Twisting through the air he brought his shield up and on his way back down he lashed out. The shield crashed against Khan’s face and sent him flying. 

Tony shot the gun from Khan’s hand, out of his reach, and both men stood over Khan’s prone figure. 

“Who is this guy,” asked Steve. “Someone from HYDRA?”   
“No.” Sutton piped up from the stairs. Steve’s gaze darted towards her briefly before focusing once more on the threat. “That’s-that’s him. That’s Khan.” 

“Didn’t Khan die in the original series,” Tony asked. He raised the arm with his suit attached. “Blew up in a ship or something, didn’t he? Got too cocky, didn’t know when to quit?” 

“Tony,” Steve warned. 

Sutton felt herself waffle. She winced, shook her head and shook out the bad thoughts. 

“He’s not a main concern anymore,” she added. ‘I can’t- Loki was right about that, at least. We have bigger problems.” 

“You do realize that this guy risked demolishing those currently flimsy structures that are sort of keeping all of our universes from colliding, right?”

Tony had reached the point of anger that made him still, barbed. There was a hostile half smile he wore that she’d really only seen in the movies, way back when. 

“You’re right,” she rushed to reassure. “You’re absolutely right. I’m not defending him. I don’t care what happens to him. I-.”

Khan pushed himself up onto his knees as he glared at the group. Steve and Tony tensed. 

“Don’t insult me with your pathetic  _ human _ assumptions.” He spat. “Of course I calculated for the dimensional ripple. I had to wait years for it to be stable enough.” 

Steve frowned. 

“Years?”

Sutton made herself edge a little closer. Reminded herself that Steve and Tony could subdue him. 

“Time doesn’t move at the same pace in every universe,” she said. She took another step forward and Tony snapped. 

“Stop walking on that leg.”   
She stopped, though her face flashed in disgruntlement. 

“Why,” she asked, addressing Khan. “Was it not good enough? You got your crew when you weren’t supposed to. You got away. What-what more could you possibly want from me?”   
  


Khan’s scowling gaze locked on her and he sneered. 

“Victory,” he said flatly. “My people are smarter, better in every way. And still, we were met with defeat after defeat. I finally realized it must be because of you.”    
  


A weight, a residual guilt, that Sutton had never quite let go of released. A disbelieving smile ticked up her face as she looked to Steve. 

“It worked,” she said. “You were right; it actually worked.” 

Maybe, just maybe, everything else could actually turn out.


	13. Chapter 13

Khan was disarmed but far from harmless even without a gun. They debated on how to properly restrain him before Sutton just shrugged. 

“Whatever would hold Steve should work. They’re both genetically enhanced superhumans, right?” 

She sniffed, wiped at her nose, and noticed one small bead of blood. Quickly, she rubbed it off on her already bloody thigh.  

Khan snarled. 

“Do  _ not _ make assumptions about  _ me. _ ”   
“Oops,” Sutton said in the least apologetic voice possible. “Did I do that?”   
“Ok, Urkel,” Tony quipped, “we’ve got it from here. Your help is not needed.”

He was being short with her. Snappier than usual. She wondered if it was because of the ‘secret’ or if the stress was just really getting to him. 

Apparently Tony had some super-strong magnetic restraints that he used for storing his suits, and he had Steve run to fetch a couple while he stood guard, repulsor at the ready. Sutton felt the tension as Khan remained sitting stiffly on the floor, his eyes taking in everything. 

A silent beat pulsed through the room as no one spoke or moved. She didn’t inch any closer, afraid that movement would somehow stir him to try and attack again. 

“I imagine you told him about our time together,” Khan commented. Sutton flinched. 

“You’ve got nothing over me,” she said. “He knows everything.”

He tilted his head to the side. 

“Everything? You told him about the virus that didn’t kill you like it should have, but kept you from fully breathing? About how you still managed to scream  _ so  _ loudly? Or how about when-”   
There was a high, charging whine and Sutton threw out a hand. 

“Tony, don’t! He’s trying to-to get to you.” 

Tony let out a sharp breath, but didn’t power down his repulsor. Just held it at the ready. Sutton hoped Steve would be quick.

“Tony.” Khan tested the name out for himself. “Did you tell  _ Tony _ that you tried to kill me yourself? Or that you would have attempted to sacrifice your own life in setting off a bomb just to stop me if I’d given you the chance. Oh, how your gaze did linger.” 

“Stop it,” snapped Sutton. One arm lifted, curled lightly around her ribs. “It’s over now. I beat you. It doesn’t matter anymore.” 

“Oh, but it  _ does _ matter to him, doesn’t it?” 

Sutton glanced over to Tony, noted his ashen face and stony, blank expression. She held her ribs tighter. 

“Tony,” she tried to soothe. “It was a long time ago now. There’s nothing- I’m fine.”

“I think he’s forgetting that he’s not the biggest fish in the pond anymore.” Tony bit out. 

“It is funny,” commented Khan, “that you were shot in the same leg that I kicked and kicked until your knee cap-” 

“Steve,” Tony yelled, cutting off Khan. “You better get back up here fast if you don’t want me to kill him!”   
  


Whatever Khan was trying to do, he wanted Tony to fire his repulsor. Or at least he wanted him distracted. But Tony had been in more emotionally charged fights before. Right? He’d fought Obadiah and won. 

He had also killed Obadiah, now that she thought about it. But that had only been because there was no other choice. 

Steve came bounding back up the stairs carrying two thick u-shaped metal pieces. Both she and Tony turned their heads to glance at Steve’s approaching figure, and Sutton caught Khan’s dark silhouette move.

“Hey!”   
He was diving for the discarded gun. Sutton felt her adrenaline spike yet again. 

He couldn’t reach it! Tony and Steve were too good of a team. They worked together and Tony had to have shot the gun too far! 

_ He wouldn’t- _

Khan’s fingers just barely skimmed the gun’s handle, but it was a fraction too far to fully grip. Tony’s repulsor fired and Khan flew back another few feet into one of the unbroken windows, cracking it. 

Sutton felt her stomach unknot as Steve and Tony both ensured that Khan’s arms were sufficiently secured behind his back, the magnets snapping together tightly. She leaned against one of Tony’s sofas as the men backed up. Khan’s nostrils were flared as fire danced behind his eyes. 

“You won’t be able to interfere forever.” He growled out. Sutton was surprised to find him directing the statement at her. The others turned to look at her and Tony switched from tense to livid. 

“Stop helping!” His voice was raised. Sutton scrunched her face in confusion. 

“What are you talking about? I didn’t move!”

Steve gestured silently to his upper lip, and Sutton mimicked the movement. Another droplet of blood. 

“Ok, first of all, I didn’t mean to. And secondly, this is the size of a dime. Come on.”

“Oh,” Tony shrugged, “so you’re not pale and leaning over my furniture because you’re suddenly exhausted?” 

Sutton huffed. 

“It’s been a long couple of days. There’s a hole in my leg.”

Steve winced, looking guilty, but Tony just ruffled further. 

“Why do you think it’s getting bad so fast? I-No, you know what? I’m pulling the boss card. Sit down or you’re fired.”

She actually gasped. He was being ridiculous! And she loved her job! 

“You-”

“I sign the paycheck of someone of someone of someone else who signs yours. Yes I can do that. Now sit down before you actually keel over.” 

Her gaze flickered to Steve, and though he looked a bit frustrated, he was choosing to remain silent. She wasn’t sure what that exactly implied. 

“I’m serious,” Tony said. 

Sutton huffed. She gathered what was left of her pride and limped around the arm of the couch and sat down. 

“There,” she said. “Are you still mad at me now?”   
“Yes,” Tony snapped peevishly. 

Steve kept a wary eye on Khan, who’d decided to defiantly stand despite being restrained. He let out a puffy breath of air as he glanced at Tony. 

“I think you need to calm down a little. She didn’t mean to-”

“It doesn’t bother you? That this is the guy who messed her up so bad? That she has absolutely no concern for her own survival and is constantly doing things to get herself killed?”

“I am not actively trying to get myself-” Sutton started to argue. Steve shot her a challenging look and her teeth clicked together as she promptly shut up. He shook his head. 

“Of course it does. But getting upset, letting him get us all riled up, isn’t going to help. And it’s not going to stop her.” 

Sutton had never seen herself as someone who actively sought out trouble. Before the Avengers had appeared in front of her car, she’d lived a pretty quiet life. And she certainly had never seen herself as overtly self-sacrificing. It was something she would have liked to believe about herself, but feared she’d never commit to. 

Her choices now didn’t  _ feel _ particularly noble or heroic. They just felt like they should be obvious. But Tony was making it sound like she was being reckless. Dumb. Maybe even a little selfish. 

She thought she’d maybe been making progress since the...Khan incident. 

Tony twitched, his hand flexing at his side a few times and he twisted his lips. 

“I might have something that can,” he said. “Theoretically at least. Obviously it hasn’t been tested yet.”

The mood in the room shifted once again. Khan turned more directly towards the conversation and Sutton stiffened where she sat. 

“Excuse me?” 

“I’ve been working on a suit. Just a bit of a side project.” 

She shook her head, blinking, as if the words had gotten jumbled and she’d misheard him. Sutton looked to Steve, but he tilted his head in a way that told her he hadn’t known anything about this. 

“A suit,” Sutton questioned. “To keep me from being able to manipulate things?” 

“It’s just energy,” Tony elaborated. “It’s weird and it doesn’t  _ always _ make sense, but it’s energy and I know how to work with energy. Don’t look at me like that. I started it after we found you again; and you didn’t seem to need it until now. I didn’t know you do stuff like this without even realizing it.” 

“I’m not opposed to this suit.” Khan piped up. 

“No one’s asking you.” Steve shot Khan a glare. He turned back to Tony with a tentative gaze. “Do you really think it’d work?”   
“Yes.”

Sutton sagged further into the couch. She didn’t have the strength to be angry, didn’t even know if she was feeling that anyway, but there was a twist in her stomach. It wasn’t as if she really liked manipulating worlds. She didn’t enjoy having to remember to police her thoughts and assumptions every single moment. But, at the same time, it was all she could significantly contribute. It was the only thing unique about her that might make a difference. And now they wanted her to turn that part off. 

The only part, she was convinced, that could actually help save the planet. 

“I don’t know.” She hedged. 

“I thought you already agreed to cooperate from now on.”   


Ok, yeah. He was still frustrated with her. 

Letting out a sigh and twisting her fingers around each other, Sutton looked up at Steve.

“You think it’s a good idea?” Steve hesitated. 

“For right now. There’s just- a lot going on. I think it’d be best to play it safe.” 

Well, that was two against one. Technically three, but she wasn’t going to actually count Khan given his blatant ulterior motives. 

“If this is part of whatever plan you all have, I guess I’ll try it. But-“

“No buts,” said Tony. He moved across the living room, back towards the front door and Sutton noticed a silver case for the first time. 

“You brought it with you?”   
“You jumped through a portal that you created and almost died, of course I brought it with me.” 

She turned an accusing, frustrated look at Steve and gestured to the case. 

“You didn’t notice the bulky metal case he was lugging with him the whole way here?”   
“Well, I didn’t know what was in it.”    
  


Tony carried the case back over and sat it on the coffee table before clicking the claps open. She leaned forward to peer inside. 

The suit was a reflective silver color and looked like it was made of some sort of synthetic material. It almost appeared to be a mix between a spandex and a vinyl. There was a hole in the chest that would snap around her arc reactor and wires ran down from that point and wrapped across the body. There were other various metallic squares and disks placed over the limbs and around the torso. She thought it looked like a wearable circuit board. If a circuit board could be sleek and stylized. Sutton licked her lips nervously. 

“I can make it not work,” she said matter-of-factly. “What do we do then? What if I accidentally doubt it?”   
  


“Actually,” said Tony in the same tone, “you can’t. This suit is made up of materials one-hundred percent available in your universe. Given that and the fact that it’ll be making direct skin contact, it should operate fine. The trick this time isn’t convincing your  _ body _ that it’s back in your original universe, but trying to hide the fact that you’re  _ here  _ from  _ this  _ universe.”

Sutton looked at Tony, down to the suit, then back to him. 

“I honestly have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.”   
Tony huffed. 

“It’s gonna work that’s all you need to know.”

He lifted the bodysuit from the case and nodded towards the hall expectantly. 

“It’s a dampener.” Khan’s voice rose up through the room. No one appreciated the input. “But that’s not all. What more can it do?” He hungrily studied what parts of the suit he could see. Tony glared. 

“Nothing that you need to know about.”

Khan rolled his shoulders in a self-confident gesture. 

“I will commend you on the design, at least,” he continued. “Much less crude than the device the others had her strapped in.”    


Both Tony and Steve looked at her pointedly and Sutton snatched the bodysuit from Tony’s grip. It was heavier than she expected. 

“I’ll just be a second!” 

She made quick work of hobbling down the hall and slipping into the nearest bathroom. Sutton closed the door behind her and leaned against it. Let out a breath of air. 

Things were not going the way she’d hoped. 

The suit felt slick despite the embedded wires. She rubbed her thumb over a section of it as she stared. 

A suit to stop what she could do. And he’d been working on it for a year without telling her. 

She let it fold over itself as she dropped it to the floor and began to shed her clothes, carefully pulling off all but her undergarments. 

The gauze around her thigh was soaked in blood. Probably not the best way to leave it under a skin hugging suit. The only thing under the sink that would work to cover the wounds were a couple large, square band aids. She tenderly pressed them down around the intact skin surrounding the holes on both sides of her thigh. Hopefully they’d stick and hold up. 

The suit opened in the back and she stepped into it carefully, slipping her feet through the legs and gingerly situating it so it was secure before pulling the torso up and putting her arms through. The material felt cool as it settled over her. She snapped the ring around the arc reactor and then zipped it up in the back. 

She didn’t exactly feel any different. 

For a few seconds she watched her reflection in the mirror as she turned and swiveled to see how it looked. Part of it made her feel like she was getting her own super suit. But she also realized that it was basically just an outfit to put her on time-out. An outfit that fit her quite snugly.

Sutton pulled the v-neck tee over it, just to try distract from that. She didn’t think the jeans would actually fit. The shirt made her look sillier. She groaned, took it back off, and decided to just take it with her back out to the living room. 

When she made her way back out to the main room both of her men were speaking in hushed tones. Khan was sitting on the far couch, back as straight as ever and he noticed her first. She cleared her throat and the others turned to look at her. Sutton shrugged lamely as she continued to limp forward and Steve rushed over to help. He put an arm around her waist, too tall to offer her his shoulder, and supported her weight so that she wasn’t using her bad leg. She thanked him quietly. 

“It looks cool, I guess,” she said for Tony to hear. “Except I don’t know if I could feel anymore like a cyborg. I mean, you’re literally trying to turn me off.” 

“Well I’m certainly not trying to turn you on.” 

“Tony!”   
He let out a short snicker and gestured her over. 

“The dampener, at least, isn’t turned on right now. Here, I’ll show you.”   
  


He pointed out a small, nearly flat switch on the right wrist and flicked it to the left. A dull light ran up the wires of the suit and she felt it. It wasn’t quite a vibration or a hum. Not quite a pressure. Perhaps it was more of a dullness. Or rather, a peace. There was a lack of excitable energy that she’d just come to assume was her own. 

“Go ahead,” Tony prodded. “Test it.”   
  


Sutton paused. What was something that she could easily imagine at the moment? Something that they’d be able to see? 

Her gaze drifted passed Khan. She’d like to see him gone. Back in his own universe and away from her. Maybe even back in the Enterprise brig. 

She could see it in her head, remembered it clearly with its bright lights and clean lines. 

But nothing happened. 

The air didn’t shimmer; there was no tear in the world before her. She felt no crackles of  energy. 

“Well?”

“Nothing’s happening.” 

Tony’s face lit up for the first time since he’d arrived. 

“Great!”    
Sutton glowered at the enthusiasm. She twisted her wrist experimentally.

“What’s it do if you turn the switch right?”   
“Maybe later,” Tony dismissed. 

The mood around Sutton lightened. As if her abilities had been their biggest concerns. As if a giant, genocidal threat wasn’t on its way. 

But they hadn’t seen the visions. They hadn’t heard the noises of terror and destruction. 

They didn’t fully understand. 

She sat back down on the couch and eyed Khan, making sure he was behaving. Surprisingly he hadn’t tried anything else, and she wondered if it was because he was curious about how this would play out. Well, he was probably going to get more than he bargained for if he stuck around.

Sutton blinked rapidly and bit lightly on her tongue. 

Steve was suddenly sitting next to her and he put his hand on her leg once again. She realized belatedly that she’d been bouncing it faster and faster. 

“I can’t promise I’ll leave it off forever,” she said. “I can’t. None of you get what’s coming. This is big-” 

Tony snapped the case closed loudly. Louder than what was necessary. 

“I saw it,” he said, his voice sharp. “When I threw that nuke through the wormhole, I  _ saw  _ it. I’ve been trying to tell everyone that up there, that’s the endgame since then. So don’t think I’m not taking this seriously.” 

He turned away from the case to face them and Steve’s head tilted to make sure someone was still watching Khan. 

“What I find unnecessary,” he continued, “is you jumping to play the martyr every chance you get.” 

Khan audibly groaned from where he still sat. 

“If there is truly a threat on the horizon,” he said dryly, “perhaps it would be better if one of you  _ did something  _ instead of dwelling on this pointless chatter.”

“Can we put him in jail? Like, a super jail,” Sutton questioned. 

Tony shot an equally disparaging glare back. 

“The sooner the better.” 

“I agree.” Steve stood up. “I’ll get him if you help her.” 

There was a helicopter on the helio pad out in front of the house. It would fit all of them, although probably more uncomfortably than not. Sutton wasn’t keen on that. She eyed the ocean again. Tried to soak in the seclusion that the Malibu home offered. 

“I’m not sure leaving is such a great ide-”

“You promised,” Tony reminded her. 

“Well where are you planning on going? Back to New York? It already went through one alien attack. Do we really want to risk that again?”    
“Whoever said anything about going back to New York City?” 

Sutton frowned, but then Steve was approaching and pushing forward a malicious looking Khan and she scrambled up into the helicopter and settled in the farthest seat. There was no pilot. She noted that with a glimmer of interest that bordered on concern. But Tony’s tech was pretty self sufficient. She just hoped it was Jarvis doing the flying. When everyone was seated inside, Tony gave the helicopter the go-ahead to lift off and Sutton watched as the ground began to shrink below them. The hum of chopper blades was surprisingly dulled for what she’d expected. But then again, most of her ideas on helicopters had come from movies and TV and Tony had probably had a hand in making this. 

In contrast Khan seemed to take all the technology in with a pithy, unimpressed expression. She still didn’t trust him not to try anything; even with his arms behind his back. Maybe  _ especially with _ his arms behind his back. 

The chopper rose to some predetermined height and moved inland. Sutton wished a silent farewell to the Pacific. 

Across from her, Steve put on a pair of headphones gestured for her to do the same. It might have not been as incredibly loud as it could have been inside, but it was still too loud for normal conversation. Sutton looked up, spotted the headset for her seat, and quickly slipped it on.   

“Are you still doing alright?” Steve’s voice crackled over the speaker. Sutton wasn’t sure there was a short answer to that. She shrugged and shook her head. 

“I’m holding up,” she replied. If Steve could keep his cool through all this, so could she. “But what about you? It’s not like nothing devastating has happened to you in the last couple days.”

She leaned forward and stretched out a hand, but was too short to actually reach across to his seat. His lips twisted briefly before he obligingly gripped her hand halfway. 

“I’m fine,” he said. 

Sutton pointed with her free hand at him and then herself. 

“Pot and kettle. You’re wrecked too. I know, because I would be if I found out Tyrese were in the same situation. But it isn’t your fault, Steve. And-and if he’s missing when this is all over, maybe I can help you find him.” 

Steve ran his thumb over her knuckles while he thought. Tony may have rolled his eyes, but Sutton wasn’t interested in turning to look and finding out. 

“He fought me a little. At first,” Steve said. “In the helicarrier. But then he just-he just stopped. Said he knew me. He said you told him we were friends.”

Sutton swallowed thickly. She wondered how it would have ended if Bucky had been wiped like Pierce had planned. 

“He’s going to get better. Now that HYDRA is exposed and- he got away, right?” 

Steve nodded and she felt some sense of relief. “If I know you at all, you’re going to find him. I’m sure he’s just confused and scared. He-” 

She recalled the horror on Bucky’s face back in the vault, the broken resignation, and shuddered.

“He’s been through a lot.” 

Tony shifted and there was another crackle through the headset. 

“Yeah, hey.” Tony chirped. “Sorry to interrupt more secret sharing, but Space Boy over

here isn’t exactly a thrilling conversationalist.” 

“We weren’t sharing secrets, Tony,” Sutton intoned. “I was just asking Steve about Bucky.”   
“Bucky?”   
She turned to Steve. 

“You didn’t tell him?” 

“There wasn’t exactly time.”

That made sense, she supposed, given their time constraints and her impulsive decisions; but it still left her feeling a bit uncomfortable. And maybe she hadn’t mentioned it either, but she’d sort of felt like it was Steve’s place to do so. It was his friend after all. Her own silence had admittedly left her feeling squeamish. 

She still hadn’t forgotten the image of Tony’s parents displayed by Zola. A few distractions had come up, but she hadn’t forgotten. When everything had settled, she planned on sitting Tony down and talking to him. But to drop  _ that  _ on him now seemed like it’d be especially cruel. 

Still, surely they’d had a spare moment on the plane or helicopter for Steve to even briefly mention Bucky. It just… sort of seemed like it’d be a big deal for Steve.    
  


Tony’s face transitioned from  _ “see, I knew you were keeping secrets”  _ to  _ “what the heck, man”  _ as Sutton briefly explained that Bucky was the Winter Soldier.  _ Brainwashed _ , Steve emphasised, by HYDRA. 

For a moment Tony was silent. Almost giving them the stink eye. 

“Your old war buddy from the 40’s is not only alive, but a brainwashed HYDRA agent who is responsible for that gaping hole in her leg.” 

“He’s not a  _ war buddy _ .”

Sutton pulled her lips away from her teeth in an awkward grimace. 

“It does sound a little crazy when you say it like that.”

Tony threw up his hands. 

“Well when have things not been crazy?”

“He has a point,” said Steve.

She’d amplified the crazy. Added a lot in that would’ve been absent if she hadn’t jumped over with them. But Tony would get huffy again if she pointed that out, so she didn’t. Plus, he’d worked so hard and spent so much money trying to get her back in the first place, it almost seemed like it’d be ungrateful to say it. 

Tony suddenly reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone. He scanned the screen, his face growing a shade or two paler as he continued to read. Sutton tossed a worried glance to Steve before she pulled away to shift towards Tony. 

_ Oh. Oh gosh. Had she been holding Steve’s hand this whole time?  _

__ “Tony, what is it?” She tried to peer at his phone but he hit the power button before she saw anything telling. “Tony?”    
He fiddled with the phone, his fingers dancing up the edge as he stared out into the distance. 

“A-uh, NASA is recording irregular movement at the outer edges of the solar system. But it’s moving too purposefully to be a comet or meteor; may even be changing directions.” 

Bile rose up the back of her throat and Sutton pressed a hand against her mouth. For a moment her vision went black. 

_ Too close, too close, too close! _

“Oh lord.”    
  


Steve’s jaw ticked and his eyes went hard. 

“Sounds like it’s time to assemble.” 


	14. Chapter 14

The only things keeping Sutton from falling apart were the fact that no one else was audibly shrieking and that she was fiercely trying to believe they could pull through this as a team.

Her eyes darted to the helicopter window, peering up to search the sky for any signs of disturbance. Nothing but dusty blue greeted her.

"Jarvis," said Tony, "start contacting who you can. We're going to need everyone on board for this."

_[Of course, sir.]_

Would everyone be enough? Just the Avengers against what was supposed to be the biggest baddie in this universe?

While, initially, after seeing Thanos in the _Avengers_ after scene, she'd assumed he was part of the next movie. But when that didn't prove true, she'd realized that it was supposed to be a build up. It was supposed to create hype and tension for the future. And in between the first _Avengers_ and that moment, there was sure to be more movies. More time. More development. And, if she could guess at all, more superheroes showing up.

But now they didn't have that.

She didn't want it. Didn't want to have to deal with this, didn't want to bring this on other people. Didn't want to have to live through what may come. There was still fear blazing erratically through her. She just wanted the problem to go away. She wished she could have imagined it out of existence and been done with it.

And the only thing popping in her head at the moment was that stupid quote from Gandalf about _no one wanting to have to live through troubled times_ ; and even though she'd never met him she just wanted to tell him to take his unhelpful advice and stuff it.

Then she realized just how dumb her fictional ramblings were and forcibly cleared her head. Maybe Tony hadn't been so wrong to make the suit.

The helicopter continued on without pause; an odd sort of churning silence engulfed the space. Sutton knew they were all out of their depth. She grimaced in a half amused smile as some of her mother's words came back to her.

" _They say worrying only makes you suffer twice, but I can usually fit at least one more suffer-session in there."_

Sutton mentally thanked her mother for such helpful life lessons.

"Well if we're not going back to New York City, where are we going," she asked. Her voice broke the quiet and shook everyone from their own thoughts. She ducked her head and directed her gaze more towards Tony as everyone looked at her.

Tony shifted in his seat. He didn't seem to like sharing anything in front of Khan.

"I purchased some property upstate recently," he said. "It's fairly secluded and not really renovated yet. If anything goes down up there, the damages will at least be kept to a minimum. And, you know, we won't be taking out crowds of innocent bystanders. Usually ideal."

"Usually," Steve deadpanned.

Sutton figured that was the best that she could hope for at the moment. Anything she suggested at this point was going to be dismissed or get her more disbelieving looks. She could only handle so many disappointed eyebrows in one day.

"Cool," said Sutton. She moved her leg and winced at the sharp pain that ran through it. "Awesome. At least that's settled."

"Hey, I don't want to hear any sass from you." Tony tried to give her a stern look and she scrunched her face at him rebelliously.

Momentarily some tension eased.

They flew onward over dying grass and busy highways. Eventually Sutton could see landing strips stretching out over the horizon.

"I guessing me suggesting I could get us back faster wouldn't go over well?"

"Not really," Steve said.

"Not at all," agreed Tony.

Sutton sighed. It was going to be an overnight flight, or they'd be getting in just as it got soul-crushingly early.

Khan had been unsettlingly silent. If his mere presence didn't make her nauseated she might've forgotten he was there at all. Perhaps that was his goal.

"What about him," she asked. "What are you planning on doing with him? I mean, if I deactivate the suit I might be able to send him back."

Of course, she was met with more disagreement. _Strike one-hundred._

"That suit might be the only thing keeping you under the radar right now," said Tony. "We'll just keep him contained until we figure something out."

"It will be amusing to see you try." Khan spoke up. "You think so highly of yourself when you do not have even half the technology of my world."

Tony always seemed to get huffy when people insulted his tech or science in general, but Sutton could tell he was working to keep himself unphased. His lips tightened and pulled back so that he was stiffly eyeing Khan as stoically as possible.

"I don't need a transwarp beaming device or phaser to handle you. You're far from being the strongest person on this planet."

"We shall see."

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall," Sutton muttered, "who's the strongest of them all?"

Steve snorted lightly into his hand and then cleared his throat.

They landed on an available section of tarmac that Sutton couldn't differentiate from the runways. But she did recognize a private plane when she saw one. Especially since she'd ridden in it before. They wouldn't have to make the long flight back in coach, at least. One last comfort before the looming chaos.

"What about the military," Sutton asked. "Should we tell them to be ready?"  
"It couldn't hurt." Steve gave an encouraging nod and Sutton felt helpful for the first time in ages.

 _[I will attempt to pass on a warning on your behalf,]_ Jarvis offered.

They climbed out of the chopper and a pilot exited the private plane at await them. Steve escorted Khan and Tony lent her a shoulder to lean on.

The pilot nodded respectfully as they made their way up the stairway.

"Mr. Stark."  
"Hey Stanley. Sorry to keep you waiting."  
"Not at all."

Sutton caught a brief, half-a-glance of the elderly pilot before Tony ushered her further into the body of the plane. They sat on the bench seats towards the front while Steve pushed Khan down into one of the chairs behind them. She flaked out over the plush cushions. A sigh escaped her.

"Did I ever mention that I love your plane?"

"Last time you ate half of a full size bag of chocolate covered pretzels and then took a nap. I sort of figured."

"Thanks for bringing that up."

Steve joined them and Sutton could hear the plane starting. It took a few minutes of idling and taxiing around the runways, but eventually she could feel as her stomach dropped out as their wheels left the ground.

"Nat and Sam are actually ok," she asked as she sank further into the cushions. Her eyelids fluttered as she stubbornly worked to keep them open.

"Yeah," said Steve. "A little scraped up, but they were ok last I saw them. It looks like we'll be meeting back up sooner than anyone might've thought."

She groaned at that. Everyone had just gone through a big, terrible, series of events. This was the last thing the world needed. A vacation was what they all deserved.

Not an all out war for the fate of the earth.

"You can sleep," a voice murmured. Sutton's lip ticked to the side even as her eyes closed.

"I should help keep watch," she muttered back. "I should keep trying to plan how to fix this. I should-"

The words puttered and slurred into nonexistence. She felt warm.

**[]**

Sutton woke feeling like she was falling. She jolted as if to catch herself before realizing that she wasn't rolling onto the ground. A yawn escaped her and she hid it while glancing out the plane window. It was dark out still, but the lights of the city were glowing brighter. The ground was growing closer now. Finally.

"Morning."

Her hands immediately jumped up to her hair, trying to smooth down what were bound to be wild curls, as she blinked. Steve smiled almost privately as he watched her situate herself.

"Oh no; I was going to stay awake!"

His lips twisted wryly as he shook his head.

"You needed the rest," he said. "Besides, you didn't really sleep that long. We're just now descending."  
Sutton frowned stubbornly.

"I don't deserve any more rest than everyone else. It's not fair."

Tony let out a snort of derision from next to her.

"I'm not so sure about that," he said. "Extreme exhaustion was the only hope I had to explain your poor decision making."

"You're the poster child for insomnia," Sutton accused.

Tony placed a hand on his chest.

"And yet still a rational genius."

Sutton and Steve both shared a droll look and Tony made a scoffing noise in the back of his throat.

"Oh no. You two don't get to team up against me. I'm her favorite Avenger; we already discussed this."

They shared another look.

"Of course you are, Tony," Steve said in a mock reassuring tone. Sutton bit her lip to stifle an amused grin.

"Cross my heart; forever," she added.

At the back of the plane Khan grumbled in disgust.

**[]**

They landed without any complications and piled into an awaiting SUV. Tony had mentioned shoving Khan in the trunk, but everyone else agreed that it was too dangerous to let him so far out of sight. They stuffed him in the back seat instead. Khan looked particularly disgusted with the car, muttering " _positively primal"_ to himself which they all purposefully ignored.

And then they drove.

Green, woodsy hills surrounded them on either side as they traveled upstate. It was easy to forget that there was more to New York than the bustling city when surrounded by the noise and traffic. But most of the state was actually open land. She appreciated the seclusion they seemed to be headed into opposed to the densely populated city streets. There wasn't much that could bring her peace at the moment, but at least she had that.

"So why did you buy this facility anyway," she suddenly asked. "Unless it's private corporate stuff, I guess."

Tony glanced back from the driver's seat and raised a brow at her questioningly.

"Why?"  
"Well, you know, there is a chance it could get smashed."

"Probably a good thing it hasn't been fully renovated then, isn't it?"

When they finally pulled off the main roads and started climbing higher up into the hills, _Sutton refused to call them mountains_ , she felt somehow safer. More hidden.

The facility was a remote series of buildings nestled amongst groves of short trees and near a small lake. They weren't extremely tall structures, unlike the Tower, and almost appeared to be part of an old military compound. It was clear that they hadn't been put to too much use. There weren't any shining lights inside and appeared to be fairly barren save for a few parked pieces of construction equipment.

"What are we doing with him," Steve asked as they all filed out of the SUV. The metal restraints still seemed to be holding Khan, but Sutton wasn't sure they could completely trust them to keep him contained. And judging by Steve's furrowed expression, neither was he.

"Just get him inside," Tony said. "We'll figure something out."

Sutton grazed a finger over the switch on her suit and Tony was close enough to swat her hand away.

"Nope. You're still benched. Come on."

He hefted her up with a bit more effort than it took Steve and headed for the nearest building entrance. Sutton let out a little ' _oof'_ and shifted awkwardly.

"Why is everyone set on carrying me around," she complained.

"Why did you block a bullet with your leg?"

She rolled her eyes. Khan and Steve appeared to be out of hearing distance though she couldn't be exactly sure just how enhanced they were. But all that really mattered was that they looked like they were too far away to hear.

"Alright," she said sternly. "It's just us right now. What else does the suit do, Tony? If I'm wearing it I think I deserve to know." Tony frowned and Sutton crossed her eyes briefly. "It's not like I'm going to try it out the second after you tell me. I have some restraint."

"You're right," said Tony. "How I could ever imagine you as impulsive is beyond me."

They were about to walk passed the threshold and enter the building. Sutton reached out to grab the sides of the door and stop their progress. Tony grunted at the sudden halt.

"Tell me now before you get to come up with an excuse. What if I need it in the future!"

"Let go. I don't have super strength and I'm not sacrificing my arms for you. I'll drop you right now."

"I'll flip the switch and find out what it does myself and you won't be able to stop me."

"Ok, fine!" Tony tried to readjust her weight and huffed. "It's a stabilizer," he said lowly. "Part of the reason your heart failed is because your body can't direct all that energy evenly. If you turn on the stabilizer, it should help redistribute that energy and save a few organs. I'm not saying channeling a lot of energy wouldn't still do damage," he clarified. "But this would help alleviate condensed bursts."

Sutton blinked and let go of the doorway.

"Well; that's all you had to say."

Dramatically, he staggered on into the room and Sutton yelped as she scrambled to grip around his neck.

"Not cool!"

The foyer of the building had minimal furniture. It looked like there were a couple abandoned desks and love seats, but everything else had been cleaned out. There were exposed bits of wall and wiring in some areas, and a few ceiling tiles were gone that left dark glimpses of a tall, scaffold ceiling. It was evident that true renovation hadn't officially started.

Tony sat her down on one of the sofas. The early morning sun shone meekly in through the windows, lighting up the space enough to see floating dust particles and making the space feel almost dreamlike.

An uncertain silence rang throughout the room. Sutton drummed her fingers over her good leg and gnawed briefly on her lower lip. Khan stood a distance away, hands still clamped together behind his back, and she really wanted to get rid of him. To just eliminate at least _one_ stressor from their lives. Her thumb briefly glossed over the flat switch before quickly pulling away.

No. She'd made a promise. And Tony may have had some miniscule point in her behaving impulsively. She certainly wasn't going to prove him right and betray his trust again.

"So this is your guys' plan," she asked. Her voice echoed once off the walls. Tony and Steve looked to each other. "You don't have a plan either, do you," she said flatly. "You just didn't like mine."

"We face this together," said Steve.

"What he said," Tony added. "We're supposed to be a team right? I swear, we had a name? Maybe an entire series of films based around us. Huh. Give me a second; it'll come to me."

She lightly bit at her tongue in frustration and to suppress an amused smile at the ridiculous face Tony was making. How someone could manage to look overly confident _and_ befuddled at the same time was beyond her.

"You have got to stop referring back to my universe," she said. "This is real. And not only is it real, but I have no idea how it's changed since we all got back. All I know is it's probably a lot."

One of them was hedging to respond, but there was movement off to the side.

Khan lept up, pulling his arm down and his legs back so that his hands were now restrained in front of him. Steve swiveled to face him head on, although Sutton was sure his shield was still in the trunk of the vehicle outside.

"Don't try anything," he warned. "You're outnumbered here."

Khan rolled his shoulders back into place with a sickening pop and then shook them loose.

"You had the advantage of her ability before," he said. "You do not now." He cracked his neck. "And I have decimated a legion of Klingon troops single handedly. You? You are nothing."

"Oh yeah?" Sutton cut in. "Well Steve took on a battalion of Nazis and Tony fried a terrorist ring. They don't need me."

"Will they break as quickly as you did?"

Steve rushed at Khan. Khan tensed and bent at the knees, keeping his stance wide and balanced. When he got close, Steve jumped and threw a leg out aiming for Khan's face. The move was blocked and parried, the force hitting the metal magnets instead of bone. Khan swung his arms then, coming around and intending to land a weighted blow of his own. Steve just barely scrambled back out of range.

Sutton was tense as she watched, the arc reactor speeding up her heart rate for her. She looked to Tony who was holding his arm out awkwardly.

"Well," she prodded. "Where's your suit?"  
"It's coming."  
"Coming?"

"Give it a couple minutes."  
"Minutes! I don't know if we have minutes!"  
Tony groaned and rolled his eyes impatiently.

"Well it was back at the tower ok? Grandpa can hold him off until then."

There was an alarming _thud_ and Steve came tumbling backwards until he landed on his back looking up at them.

"You know, a little help would be nice." Sutton peered down at him from the sofa.

"Just let me open a portal and we can push him-"  
"Nope," said Tony.

"Never mind. I've got this." Steve got up and threw another punch as Khan fought to try and get around him.

Tony watched for a moment longer before he swiveled for the door. He looked back long enough to tell her not to flip the switch and then took off for the SUV. He threw open the trunk and Sutton went back to watching the fight. The heavy magnets were both a slight hindrance and an unwelcome bludgeoning weapon all at once. They just barely caught Steve's face once and even then it seemed like it was going to bruise. Steve grit his teeth and ran forward, moving light on his feet in a way that looked like he was going to aim another kick at Khan's face.

Khan moved into the perfect position to block the attack, but Steve barreled forward. His last few steps were heavier. He grabbed Khan around the waist and lifted him into the air before driving him back into the cement floor with so much force that Sutton swore she could feel the vibrations from where she sat.

"Steve; catch!"

From behind, Tony chucked the shield across the room and Steve stood and caught it one-handed. He'd just positioned it in front of him when a blur shot passed him and lodged itself in the ground next to Khan. An arrow?

"Move!"

He raised the shield and took a few hurried steps back when the arrow exploded.

Steve came tumbling back once again and the force actually blew Khan back and away from them. Sutton's ears rang slightly from the reverberating noise. Khan looked like he may be actually unconscious. Still not dead, somehow. But she could see even from where she sat that his skin looked burned and there was blood dripping from a few different places.

"Are you ok, Steve?"  
He pushed himself to his feet and ran a hand through his hair as he grit his teeth briefly.

"Yeah. Just peachy."

They all looked up to see where the arrow had come from. Sutton was less than surprised when a pair of legs appeared out of a section of ceiling void of any tiles. There was a quiet _click_ and then Clint was rappelling down to meet them.

"Do you know how I was contacted," Clint asked a tad too loudly. He unclipped himself from the rope he'd used as his boots touched the floor. "Email! Who even uses email anymore?"

"Apparently you," said Tony. Clint cocked his head.

"What? Oh. Wait a second."

He reached up and fiddled with something in his ear that Sutton already knew was a hearing aid.

"There. Now what?"

"When did that happen?" Tony gestured at his ears.  
Sutton winced.

"When he was saving me from Axel."

"It's ok," Clint said with a sigh. "I snagged these before SHIELD totally freaking collapsed. And now explosions don't bother me. So...yay."

A high whistle pierced the air and they all turned in time to see pieces of Tony's suit come flying at the windows. Tony jumped, slashing his hands down in front of him, and all the pieces fell before they came crashing in the room.

"Well, good news. Suits here."

Steve's face dropped down to a tired, not-at-all amused glower.

"Perfect timing."

Clint glanced back at Khan's prone body before turning back to the rest of them.

"Who is that anyway? A STRIKE guy?"  
"His name is Khan," Steve said.

"He's from another universe," Tony added.

Groaning, Clint rubbed at his face.

"I haven't had enough sleep for this."

"Well take a power nap," said Tony, "because it only gets worse from here."

They decided to subdue Khan even further. Burned and concussed or not, it would be foolish to take any chances. It took some maneuvering, but they were able to pull the magnets apart and then pin his arms down separately along a metal section of wall. It looked supremely uncomfortable.

Given that no one else had yet shown up, they loitered around the room. Tony collapsed on a sofa and threw an arm over his eyes. Sutton thought she heard him mutter some complaint over nerves, but she wasn't sure. Clint asked about why they were being called together again, and the moment "alien" was uttered he immediately held up a hand to silence them.

"You know what, I'll wait for the group talk. I think I saw a McDonald's on the way up here. Ya'll want something? One of those muffin things? Hashbrowns? I think they have pancakes now."

At "pancakes" Sutton's eyes cut to Steve and her face warmed. She quickly looked back to Clint and coughed before speaking.

"Muffin," she said. "Muffin is fine."

Steve waved a hand flippantly.

"That sounds good."

Clint took the car they'd arrived in. She wondered how he'd gotten up to the compound in the first place.

It was quiet in the building once more. Steve dropped down next to Sutton on the sofa adjacent to Tony and they both heaved out tired sighs. The temporary silence was nice. It'd be better if she could sit like this, next to Steve, and not worry about impending doom.

"How's your face," she asked.

Steve cracked open an eye and looked at her, one eyebrow rising up.

"Huh?"  
"He clipped you with those magnets," she elaborated. "I could see the mark it left from across the room."

Tentatively, she reached up, her fingers uncurling slightly before she halted.

"Do you-do you mind?"

He shook his head 'no'. Sutton let her fingertips touch his heated skin as she turned his head to study the spot on his jaw. Her own fingers tingled slightly and she mentally scolded herself for her own boldness. There was a bruise forming, but nothing that looked serious. The skin was turning a light purplish-blue and it'd probably be sore, but it wasn't as bad as a broken jaw would've been.

"It's not the worst; you're pretty tough." Steve grinned.

"Yeah, he'd have to try a little harder than that."

Sutton hummed in good humor.

"Well, uh, you...fight...good."

"Mulan!"  
She blinked in surprise and blanched at the same time.

"What?"  
"From when we had that Disney marathon," Steve said. "That was on Mulan, wasn't it? When the guy was complimenting her. You're quoting that, right?"

"Yes," Sutton agreed sharply. "Awesome! You remembered! Good- good job."

A muffled groaning interrupted them.

"Ugh. Do I need to let you two have the room?"

Sutton was torn between scolding Tony and trying to actually gauge Steve's reaction. He wasn't interested in her; she wasn't his type. He was nice to everyone.

Except-except he wasn't exactly. Steve could be snippy or closed off when he wanted to be. Sometimes he was just as bad at masking the emotions on his face as she was.

He let her touch him. And he didn't seem to mind when she pitifully tried to keep up conversation.

 _Ah!_ Not the time!

Sutton threw a hand up to smooth back her hair out of nervous reflex. Her hand sank into the curls as she scratched at her scalp.

"Just take a stinkin' nap, Tony," she chided.

"Actually," Steve cut in, "Sutton-"

His tone had changed. It was good-thinking of her to ask Tony to turn off the audible alarm, because her heart rate spiked suddenly. She sat up straighter and tugged her hand away from her head, but found it stuck.

"Crap."

Her curls had wrapped themselves around her hand and snagged on some of the exposed bits of the suit.

"Are you-"

"No, I got it!"

She pulled at her hair with her free hand and yanked again. Something on the suit clicked twice.

A rush washed over her. The suit lit up briefly and then settled on a dim blue color along the wires. Sutton gasped as energy rippled through her limbs and torso. It wasn't necessarily painful or bad, it was just there. Humming through her bones.

"Sutton!"

"I'm-I'm ok. Crap. I do need help. I think I accidentally-"

The energy suddenly swarmed, rising up through her like an aggressive tide and she could feel it biting.

"Sutton?"

Her tongue was thick. Uncooperative.

She saw visions of other worlds once more.


	15. Chapter 15

Sutton was conscious enough to know that she was not screaming. But she was gasping for breath as each separate universe flashed before her. It was like the last time it’d happened, back at Sam’s house. Only this time it was moderately less painful. Still, she gnashed her teeth together as the bolts of lightning crackled through her. 

Why, why, why?

 

Khan had already come through. He was there. 

 

Her limbs were on fire, trembling. Colors and shapes blurred together and Sutton felt pressure building and building and building. There was too much pressure, her lungs couldn’t expand. There wasn’t room!

 

And then it popped.

 

As quickly as it’d appeared, the energy burst and fizzled out of her. Sutton came up for air, reaching to the reactor as the haunting, pressing weight finally left her chest. Someone grabbed her hand and pulled it away from her. She tried to wrench her arm away, but a force kept her from struggling and suddenly the energy hadn’t just eased, it was gone. Cut off. 

Sutton panted and blinked; the light of the room finally registered and the fuzzy forms of two figures began to solidify. 

“You’re still here.”   
“Steve.” His name came out in a sigh and her muscles went slack. He was propping her

up and she sank back into the comfort of his touch. She swallowed thickly and tried to get her tongue working again. “I didn’t mean to,” she said. “It wasn’t me. I-I wasn’t even-”

“It’s ok. We know.”   
“Do we?” Tony’s voice rose up, tense and hostile. 

“Yes, we do,” Steve insisted. 

 

Sutton’s vision finally cleared and she was looking up at Steve’s concerned face. She flashed him a weak smile to try and ease his furrowed expression.

“I’m ok.” She sighed. “Good news; the suit actually works. I hardly felt a thing.”

Tony made a clawing gesture with his hands and may have let slip an expletive or two. 

“Do I have to baby proof everything? Seriously? Your hair? Do we need to shave your hair off in order to curb any future accidents?” 

 

There were flashing red alarms going off in her head; she needed to defuse Tony before he ruptured something. She wasn’t sure her usual joke would go over well at the moment. 

“I’ll tie my hair back.”

“Oh! You’ll tie your hair back! Great!”

 

Ok, well that didn’t help either. 

Sutton turned to Steve and gripped his hand, pinning him with a serious look. 

“If he kills me,” she said slowly, “I want you to have my toaster. You can sell my Jane Austen novel; that should get you enough money to flee the country.”   
“This isn’t a game!” Tony paced in front of them and Sutton stiffened. He’d never shouted at her like this. He’d never derailed a coping joke so thoroughly.

“I know that,” she said defensively. “I’m trying not to freak out.”

He stopped pacing a moment and stared at her. She could see his expression shift from enraged and sink down into an exhaustion. Her chest ached. 

“If that wasn’t you trying to believe something, then what happened?”  
Sutton sighed and closed her eyes as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She felt Steve squeeze her shoulder in a show of camaraderie. She was still resting against him. She didn’t move. 

“This hasn’t happened since Sam’s house,” she said. “That was-that was when Khan was, I think, breaking through.” 

 

The room went silent and still. A sickening unease trickled in through the walls. Tony twitched. 

 

“Then who was trying to come through this time?”  
“Not trying,” Sutton responded quietly. “If it’s the same, they made it.”

 

Steve cursed quietly behind her. 

 

A noise from outside distracted them momentarily. Dust billowed along the road as a car pulled up the drive. At first Sutton assumed it was Clint back with food, but it hadn't been that long since he'd left. The car came closer and it was clear that it was a different make than the one they'd arrived in. Sutton tried to think of who'd be close enough to arrive next. 

“Nat,” she asked. Steve shifted and she moved away from him to let him stand. 

“I think so.”

 

There were two figures in the car when it pulled to a stop right outside the doors. She was relieved to note that the driver had bright red hair. 

The car doors opened and Sutton perked up.

“Oh, Sam’s here too.” 

“Sam?”  
She turned to Tony as Steve walked outside to greet them. 

“Steve’s new friend,” she said. “We met him while jogging.”

“Right.”

 

The group outside greeted each other before filing into the building. Sutton smiled as Nat approached. They exchanged a quick hug and Nat made a point of eyeing Sutton’s outfit. 

“Nice suit.”

Sutton ducked her head.

“I got put on probation.” Nat clicked her tongue behind her teeth. 

“Yikes. Big brother finally put his foot down? What was the last straw? Getting shot?”

Tony scoffed, obviously eavesdropping. 

“How about her almost getting herself turned into a vegetable trying to take on that purple Mr. Clean all by herself?” 

 

The indirect mention of Thanos cast a shadow over Nat’s face, her eyes suddenly tightening at the corners. Sutton didn’t like seeing Nat stressed. It was almost more foreboding than the idea of Thanos himself. Because Nat wasn’t a person she easily imagined scared. If Nat was worried, then everyone should be. 

“Do we know if he’s actually getting close?” 

Tony rubbed at his face and Sutton looked away. 

“He’s in the solar system.” 

 

From next to Steve, Sam shifted. 

“Who’s in the solar system now?”   
Sutton spoke up before anyone could cut in first and start going over the situation. 

“We should wait for Clint. That way we don’t have to go over this more than once.”

They had mercy on her and agreed. Though Sam did point to a still unconscious Khan stuck to the wall with an unsure,

“Uhh, who is that?” 

Steve glared. 

“A nuisance.” 

 

A short while later Clint returned with bags of McDonald’s. The smell of greasy breakfast almost extinguished Sutton’s appetite altogether. Even if the food brought back childhood nostalgia, it’d been a long time since she’d eaten from the fast food chain. Her stomach was already unsettled from the day’s events and she hoped the fatty muffin wouldn’t upset it further. 

When Clint saw Nat and Sam his gaze dropped down to the bags of food and he seemed to do a mental tally. 

“I guess I only get two hash browns now.” Nat rolled her eyes in response and snagged one of the paper bags. 

“Just like Budapest,” she said. 

Clint snapped to attention and glared. 

“It’s literally nothing like- I think you’re doing that on purpose.”

 

[]

 

They discussed the situation while everyone settled in to eat. Sutton explained that Thanos was heading their way because of her and gave a brief summary of her escape from HYDRA to a curious Nat and Sam. She didn’t go over her breakdown at Tony’s Malibu home. And she sort of glossed over the part where Thanos invaded her headspace to leave an ominous and traumatizing warning. 

Sutton could catch snatches of whispering and she knew what they were fearing without even hearing any of it. 

Could all of them really be enough? Even if they could get Bruce and Thor involved, it’d been enough of a struggle to just defeat Loki. And some of that was even due to luck and Loki’s own negligence. 

 

Sutton accepted a McMuffin as they were being passed out and focused on unwrapping it. Khan stirred and groaned, and besides a split second glance from everyone, they largely ignored him. 

Tony took two bites of a hash brown and decided to dig around the site for some spare tools as everyone nibbled at their lukewarm breakfasts. Given the state of the unfinished compound, there actually were a few forgotten items laying around. 

“Here,” he said after collecting what looked like a pair of pliers. “I’ll make sure your suit doesn’t accidentally turn on again.” 

Sutton held out her arm for him and watched idly as she took another bite of her McMuffin. 

“Gonna make a catch, or somethin’?” She asked around a mouthful of food. 

Tony didn’t reply as he made sure that the switch was securely in the “dampener” position before he took the pliers and snapped the lever cleanly off. 

“Hey!”  
She tried to jerk back, but Tony kept a firm grip on her arm as he smashed down the pin that rotated the mechanism. He didn’t let go until it was completely flat and immovable. Sutton gasped. 

“Tony! What did you do?”

 

Tony raised a brow unapologetically. 

“Made sure you can’t accidentally turn the suit on again.” 

“Well now I can’t turn it on at all!”   
“Exactly.”

 

Sutton dropped the remainder of her breakfast as she stood quickly. She clenched her teeth together as pain shot up her leg again, and seethed. Her stomach churned as what he’d just done sank in. Tony didn’t move. He just watched her, his face not showing emotion as her breathing continued to quicken. 

“How could you-how could you do that to me? What if I need this?” 

His face crumpled into a scowl. 

“I’m not going to let you risk it,” he said. “I can’t-” he rubbed at his chest absently, “I can’t take it.” 

Their conversation was drawing attention now. But Sutton wasn’t aware of anyone else. She felt like pacing, but the pain in her leg prevented her from doing so.

“Did it ever cross your mind that maybe it’s my life to make that decision with? If I want to risk it, that’s my choice.” 

“As long as I’m alive you’re not using your power to fight this guy.” 

“I can take this thing off whenever I want!” 

Tony smiled, though it was empty and grim.

“Have fun running around in your underwear, kid.” 

 

Someone reached out a hand to her, but she bat it away without looking. Her eyes were getting hot as she stared at Tony’s unrepentant face. Sutton gnashed her teeth and breathed sharply through her nose, each breath making her chest feel tighter and tighter. Silence rang awkwardly as no one else moved. After a few long seconds, she bit the bullet and stormed out of the building as quickly as her injury would allow. 

 

She continued alone outside the building walls and onto the lawn and then hid behind the parked cars, out of view. Her leg throbbed again as she rested against one of the car’s bumpers. She pressed down over where the Band-Aid would be and hissed quietly. 

 

She was sick and tired of catering to this stupid leg! 

 

Sutton smacked her palm down on the bumper and sucked at her lower lip. Gripping the cheap plastic, she leaned forward and tried to control her breathing. Tried not to let herself really start crying because she couldn’t let herself fall apart that much. 

Tony knew. He knew how much it meant to her to be able to help. To have a means of defense. And he’d taken that choice, that option, from her. 

Unless, that is, she was willing to strip down in front of a crowd. Which she wasn’t, at the moment. 

Hot, righteous anger flickered through her core. She hadn’t ever felt that towards him before. Irritation, exasperation, sure. But not this sort of betrayal. She’d trusted him. 

 

The others left her alone and she was grateful for the time; crying wasn’t something she enjoyed doing in front of people. And while she wasn’t all out bawling, she couldn’t stop her eyes from leaking. 

As stupid as it may’ve sounded aloud, she’d been sort of planning to be their secret weapon. They wouldn’t let her fight initially, she knew them well enough to know that. But if they fought and it started going south, she could do things that they couldn’t. Even if her first couple attempts hadn’t gone well, she could try something else. Something more direct. 

And now Tony was doing his best to make sure that didn’t happen. 

 

Sutton wiped at her eyes. A soft breeze rustled the nearby trees and besides some distant birdsong, it was quiet. For awhile she just soaked up the silence. Told herself that she’d find a spare set of clothes somehow. That she’d forego her pride and strip down to her underwear if it meant saving the world. 

What a story that would make. 

 

A crunching of gravel alerted her to another presence. Sutton sat up straighter and swiped at her eyes again. Fixed her hair. Her eyes widened as she looked up.

“Sam?”

“Expecting someone else?” His tone was cheeky, but gentle. Sutton huffed. Part of her had been expecting Steve. But only because he was usually so attentive to people’s moods. And, admittedly, she liked talking to him. Even about things like this, things that upset her. He was a good listener and he usually gave decent advice. He made her feel better. 

“Frankly, yeah,” she said. “What, you draw the short stick?” 

Sam leaned against the side of the car and crossed his arms casually. 

“I’m here ‘cause I’m pretty decent with people. And sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone you don’t know as well.” 

Sutton rolled her eyes as she drooped her shoulders briefly. Of course. They didn’t want to deal with her. Well to be fair, she didn’t want to deal with her either.

 

“I know what they think of me,” she said. “That I’m being petty and stupid. That I’m not capable of doing anything helpful anyway. I’m just a burden. I mess up over and over.” She sniffed and forced herself to her feet. 

“And, yeah, sure. I do. But you know what? It’s my power. It’s my choice if I want to risk dying or not. And you know what else? I survived universe after universe,” her voice cracked, “all by myself. I messed up big time, but I also helped people. I helped save an alien species from genocide. I gave a woman the chance to buy her freedom. I stabilized an entire world! So how dare he take this from me. The only thing I have to-to help fix this.” 

 

Sam shifted and eyed her up and down looking contemplative. Sutton ran her hand through her hair again. 

“You really believe your friends would think of you as stupid and petty?” 

Sutton shrugged and broke eye contact. 

“I know they care about me, if that’s what you’re getting at. I just- I know I’m not trained like the rest of you. I know they don’t trust me.” 

 

Sam pushed himself off the side of the car and walked around to sit on the bumper next to her. The silence was sticky. Sutton wished she could stuff the words back in her mouth and undo the emotional vomit she’d just spewed all over him. 

Way to go, Sutton. At it again.

“People process trauma differently,” Sam said. His voice was slow, careful. Sutton cautiously let some of her muscles loosen. “Sometimes they deal by feeling like they have to be in control of everything. When situations in life start slipping away from them, they can become frantic. Emotional.” 

Sutton snorted. 

“Well he’s certainly been irritable and-” Sam cocked his head and looked at her from under lowered lids. “Oh. You weren’t talking about Tony.”

“I think you’re both pretty similar.” He paused. “Or feeding off each other.”

“Probably both.”

“I’m not saying he did the right thing, but-” 

 

A sudden scraping, wheezing interrupted him. A chill ran down Sutton’s spine. She moved forward a couple steps to look out over the lawn in the direction the sound was coming from. A shimmering light floated over the grass and her heart sank further. 

“Crap. No. Frick. I just- ten seconds! What the heck, universe?” 

“What the heck is that?”  
Sutton eyed Sam quickly before she started trying to make her way back to the building. 

“The person who made it through,” she said. 

 

She could see bits of blue solidifying and she quickened her pace. Sam kept up with her easily, eyeing the growing intrusion on the lawn with a bewildered eye. 

“What did I get myself into,” he muttered. 

 

Never would she have thought that seeing the TARDIS materializing could make her stomach curdle, but she had never considered it a real possibility. Never thought that the Doctor would be so reckless. Didn’t think he’d actually chase her down. 

Luckily she hadn’t wandered too far from the building with everyone else inside. 

 

“Steve!”

 

At her high-pitched cry Steve came sprinting out of the building. He saw the TARDIS and stiffened, moving to stand between her and it while Sutton gripped the back of his shirt, trying to take some weight off her leg.   
“I’m guessing that’s what made it through. The Doctor guy?”  
“You recognize the TARDIS?”  
He took a few steps back, forcing her to as well or else be tripped over. 

“I watched a bit after you came back. Just to see.” 

Sutton’s head snapped up to stare at him, though she couldn’t see his face from her position. 

“Really?” 

 

The others rushed from the building just as the TARDIS door burst open. Sutton pressed further into Steve. She wasn’t exactly terrified, but he was warm. And he smelled good. 

“The Doctor can usually be reasoned with,” she murmured. 

A tall, gangly leg appeared out of the ship and was quickly followed by an equally gangly body. 

“Oh, hello! Would you look at you lot.”

 

Sutton peeked around Steve and wondered why the Doctor had even come. He wasn’t Ten anymore, so obviously some time had passed. Silence reigned as there was an awkward stand-off where no one knew what to say. The Doctor waved hesitantly. Clint waved back. 

“What are you doing here?” Sutton’s voice rang out steadier and a bit more sharp than she’d been planning. Her question focused the Doctor’s attention on her and he smiled widely, clapping his hands together. 

“There you are! You managed to find your way back; good for you. I mean, obviously I could tell you’d made it somewhere, but there were never any guarantees it’d be where you wanted.” 

“I’m not going back with you. I’m stable now. I’m staying here.” 

 

The Avengers were all gathered around her and she felt bolder. She stepped out from behind Steve and stood at his side. The Doctor blinked widely. 

“Is that what you think? Oh my dear, no. Do you know what kinds of problems that would cause? I mean,” he shrugged, “more than there already are. No, you’ve got to travel light between these universes. Why do you think I haven’t brought Amy and Rory along?” 

“You shouldn’t have come at all,” Tony cut in. He had one arm of his suit on, though he wasn’t standing aggressively. “You could have killed her.” The Doctor grimaced. 

 

“Sorry about that,” he said. “But you see, I wouldn’t have come if it weren’t serious. Things were fine for awhile; I’ll admit I stopped looking for you. But there’ve been some terrible disturbances in the universal walls that I just couldn’t ignore. ” 

Sutton groaned and mentally cursed Khan. 

“It’s being...handled,” she said. “But you came at a really, really bad time.” 

“Oh dear. That’s two reallys.”   
“Hey, yeah, is anyone else noticing that this guy is flying around in a phone booth? And I think it’s bigger on the inside.” 

 

Clint pointed at the police box and the Doctor grinned before suddenly frowning. 

“It’s a police box, actually. Not a phone booth.” 

“Well, it’s got a phone on it. And it’s sorta… booth shaped.” 

Nat rested an elbow on Clint’s shoulder and eyed the Doctor drolly.

“Regardless of whatever your spaceship is, we’ve got big problems that you probably don’t want to get involved in. We’ve got an apocalypse to stop.” 

The Doctor’s demeanor brightened, oddly enough, at the mention of end of the world scenarios. 

“Apocalypses are a bit of my specialty, actually.” 

 

Sam seemed to grow bored of the conversation and brazenly walked into the TARDIS to investigate. The Doctor let him pass, only calling out to not touch anything as Sam peered around. Sutton could hear Sam’s voice echo from a distance. 

“What the-”

 

Sutton didn’t feel like seeing the inside of the TARDIS again, even with his reassurances. Plus that would involve extra walking. The Doctor came closer and pulled open his suit jacket to grab his sonic screwdriver. The green light flashed and there was the familiar, high warble as he scanned either the environment or a few people with a quick sweep. 

“It really is incredible, the difference in molecular frequencies. We’ll be lucky if I can hold myself here for any length of time.” 

“Or,” Tony suggested, “you can just go back to your own universe right now.”

The Doctor ignored Tony’s comment. His forehead wrinkled as his face furrowed in thought and he looked back up at Sutton. 

“You’re injured?” 

“Shot,” said Sutton. “In the leg.” 

She pointed to the spot on her thigh and the Doctor tsked as he aimed his sonic screwdriver where she’d specified. 

“Guns.” He scoffed. “I hate guns.” 

 

There was an odd tingling sensation that spread around the holes in her leg. Sutton hopped lightly onto her good foot as she used Steve for balance. 

“What-” 

“It’s only a superficial fix, unfortunately,” the Doctor said. “But the skin ‘ll be stitched up so there’s no more bleeding. The inside will take more time, I’m afraid.” 

Sutton tentatively put more weight on the leg. It was still painful, obviously, with the muscle torn but she could feel the tug of new skin. At least she didn’t have to worry about constantly keeping it wrapped or risking an infection now. 

“Thank you,” she said looking up. “I didn’t remember that it had that feature.” 

“Well, upgrades and all that. Let’s move along then, shall we? I believe we were preventing the end of the world. Possibly more than one?” 

 

They began the short walk back to the main building they’d picked as their makeshift base. Sutton continued to hobble, though she did feel better about not having to fear infection anymore. Especially if some sort of universal chaos really did break loose.

“You need help, Sutton,” Nat asked as she caught up. “It doesn’t sound like his magic wand was able to completely fix your leg.” 

Sutton blinked and shrugged as she limped. 

“Oh, uh, it’s not that far-” 

“I can help.” 

Steve was quick to tuck her under his arm and Sutton let out a surprised squeak at the action. She shot a confused look back at Natasha and the woman winked at her. 

 

Khan was awake when they all reentered the room. He glared openly at them as they filed in and gathered around the few seats available. His gaze flickered over the expanded group of people, assessing his chances probably, and must have concluded that struggling wasn’t an option at the moment. Sutton didn’t see it as even a possibility with those magnets pinning him to the wall like they were. 

“Who’s that, then,” the Doctor asked. He gestured to Khan and looked to Sutton. “The problem being handled?”

“Yeah” Sutton agreed. “How bad are the universal walls, if you risked coming through like this? What damage did he do?” 

The Doctor hissed dramatically through his teeth and paced around the room. No one in the room looked like they exactly knew what to do with him. Certainly, the Doctor was a sort of character one either had to get accustomed to or simply couldn’t understand.

“Please,” said Tony. “Tell us what was so bad that you had to go and make it worse.”   
Sutton frowned but didn’t say anything. She still hadn’t made eye contact with him since she’d stormed out, and he hadn’t made a move to either. There was still anger floating through her like smoldering chunks of rock in her veins, but it cut and burned her more than anything else. She didn’t like it. 

“Well, firstly, it was only so easy to cross over because the walls are flimsy in the first place. Flimsy-whimsy walls. Not good. There’s too many universes pressing together, you want them to be strong. It was not good for awhile after you left, then it evened out a bit. Lately it’s been going all haywire again, I’m afraid. Stretching, pulling, splitting. All things a good wall shouldn’t do.” 

“I’m starting to get the reason why all our universes are separate,” Clint mumbled. 

 

There was the sound of someone running and they all turned to see a panting Sam join them. 

“Dude, did none of you hear me,” he asked while scowling. “I was flippin’- do you know what are in some of those rooms?”  
The Doctor straightened. 

“Nothing got out, did it?” 

“What? No.”

“Oh, good.”  
Sam shook his head and flopped onto an open seat. 

“All I know is I ain’t goin’ back in there.” 

 

Steve rolled his eyes good-naturedly as he stood with arms crossed. Sutton tried to steer the conversation back on track. Loki’s warnings hadn’t gone unheeded. The sand draining from their hourglass was practically tangible. 

“So did you have a solution; is that why you came?” 

The Doctor held up the pointer finger on each hand and grinned.

“I may, actually. You know how the Heart of the TARDIS is a powerful energy with restorative abilities?” 

“Not really,” said Nat, “but please, continue.”   
“Well it is. And if I were able to, perhaps, combine it with another powerful energy source from your world, I may be able to send out an energy burst strong enough to start healing all these tears.”

 

This didn’t really help with the Thanos issue, although she supposed she should be grateful for an a potential solution to any of her problems at all. 

“You think it would really work,” she asked. 

“I’m fairly certain.” Everyone shifted uncomfortably and the Doctor blinked. “Oh, not confident enough? How ‘bout, I am completely certain it’s the best option.” He smiled as if he’d accomplished some great feat. Sutton kneaded at her forehead.

“Awesome,” Steve said with a droning tone. “So where are we gonna get a super powerful energy source to keep the fabric of reality from ripping apart?”


	16. Chapter 16

“What kind of power source are we talking about here. Just how powerful?”   
Tony used air quotes when referencing  _ power _ and Sutton huffed at his continued hostility towards the Doctor. 

“If anyone has power sources, it’s Stark,” said Nat.

The Doctor paced a few times, clearly pondering, as he processed their attempts to be helpful. 

“If it’s anything like the little thing she’s wearing, it won’t be enough.” He gestured to Sutton and her fingers glossed over her glowing reactor. 

Clint noted her movements and cocked his head. 

“What about, like, five hundred of those things? He’s got ‘em pouring out of his ears.” 

The Doctor shook his head. 

“No, no, no. It’s got to be big. Ultra-big. My TARDIS can heal, but something's got to help her reach! I need something that can open a pathway out to all the tears.” 

 

The answer flickered in Sutton’s mind quickly. A source of power that could reach through space? 

“Oh great.” She grumbled. She rubbed lightly at her face and looked up. “The Tesseract? It’s an Infinity Stone, so it’s basically one of the most powerful forces in this universe. And it’s the Space Stone. Reaching anywhere in the universe is it’s job.”

The Doctor perked up gleefully.

“Wonderful! Sounds perfect. Where is it?”   
There were a few groans and murmurs, plus a questioning ‘ _ Tesseract?’ _ from Sam.

“Asgard,” Steve said. “So not on this planet.”   
To Sutton’s bewilderment, the Doctor frowned and hummed as if that were a complication. She scoffed and threw out her hands. 

“You have a  _ TARDIS.  _ A ship that travels through space!”   
The group turned their gazes from her back to the alien in question. He gestured helplessly. 

“Well I can’t exactly actively use it. I told you, the walls are weak and I don’t belong here. If I try to do too much, it may bring everything crashing down even quicker. Quicker? More quickly?” 

“Are things really that bad,” asked Sam. “Besides a few quakes, things have seemed to calm down.”

 

He may’ve had a point. After the moments where Khan had been, assumingly, trying to break through their universal barriers, Sutton hadn’t noticed many signs that total annihilation was looming over them. The Doctor sighed. 

“It wouldn’t be things that your  _ human  _ eyes would notice at first. No offense. There’d be tears. Pockets of other universes that are pressing through, almost merging. But just because your universe is collapsing doesn’t mean you’ll notice it right away. All universes are massive and you aren’t exactly the center of it, are you? There’s lots of places the destruction can start.” 

“Uh,” said Clint, “I caught, like, maybe half of that.” He gestured to his hearing aids. “Has anyone ever told you that you talk too fast?”   
  


Sutton paled at the mention of the tears. That wasn’t just from Khan? She’d seen those. Plenty so far. Probably all that was preventing her from seeing more was Tony’s suit. 

 

“You mentioned that,” said Steve as he turned to face her. Tony nodded in agreement at the statement, looking ever more severe. Sutton swallowed. 

“Well, there’s one mystery solved.  _ Woo _ .”   
  


A phone chimed and everyone, sans the Doctor, reached for their pockets at once whether they actually had a phone or not. It was Tony’s and his grip on the device tightened as he read over the screen.

“Mars,” he said. His voice was almost choked. “The anomaly has been detected near Mars now. NASA is on high alert with something that can travel that fast.” His jaw ticked as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. 

Sutton breathed into her hands and tried not to shake. 

 

Mars was their planetary neighbor. Mars was just next door. Thanos would be able to practically  _ see  _ life on their planet from that distance. 

 

They didn’t- they didn’t even have SHIELD now. There was no time to recover from the blow HYDRA had dealt. They had nothing. Just themselves and possibly the military, which always seemed to amount to garbage in superhero flicks.

She wasn’t going to watch this world be destroyed. She wasn’t going to watch her friends fight and fall. She had to find a way to change out of the suit! 

 

“So how do we do this,” Sam asked. “How are we supposed to get this Tesseract if it’s off planet?”  
It was quiet as people thought and Sutton started taking rapid breaths. 

 

_ Her.  _ He was coming for  _ her. _ To use her to destroy every universe. 

 

_ Broken concrete, jutting rebar, blood, bodies, Loki.  _

Nat! She could ask Nat to neutralize her if worse came to worse. Nat would do it. 

 

_ No, no. Breathe. She had to just breathe.  _

 

“Can we, uh, ask Heimdall?” Steve hedged. Sutton blinked and the others shifted. “You said he can hear and see everything in this universe, right?” 

Sutton subtly took a deep breath and swallowed, shoving the emotion down and painting on a look of deep thought. 

“As far as I know,” she said. 

“Did they ever get your message about Loki?”    
She frowned. There’d never been any clear sign that they  _ had _ gotten her message. 

“I-I don’t know. For all I know Loki was shielding me from view at that time. But, things have changed since then.” 

It was really their only option. Thor didn’t exactly have a cell phone and no one had a trained raven on hand to send off. Steve awkwardly called out Heimdall’s name a few times, to get his attention, and asked for Thor’s assistance and the Tesseract. Told him it was important. 

Sutton assumed that Heimdall already knew a bit about what was happening. If he could see into the cosmos, there was no way he’d have missed the pressing universes or the blatant movements of Thanos.

He had to understand the urgency they were experiencing.

 

They waited for a minute or two after Steve finished explaining, but there was no crackling lightning in the sky or thundering in the distance. Hardly even a breeze. Sutton hoped that Heimdall was keeping an ear pointed in their direction to notice them in the first place.

“There could be a complication.” Nat spoke up. “We’re trying to get ahold of one of the most powerful forces in this universe while this universe’s biggest threat is on its way here. Anyone else thinking this guy might like to get his hands on this thing?”   
Sutton’s fingers drifted to the mangled and immovable pin on her right sleeve. Her nail hooked under a section of the bent metal, but it was stuck tight. 

 

“The answer is simple.” Khan’s voice interrupted from the side of the room. Heated gazes flickered in his direction like spitting flames. Sutton only glanced at him briefly. Despite the fact that he was impossibly still alive, he didn’t look so great. Crusted blood flaked across several parts of his face, and some of his skin looked rather red and raw. “You do not allow him to  _ take it, _ ” he continued. “Or are you all so incompetent that even as a team you are unable to do so?” 

“Hey man,” said Sam, “I have some advice of my own. Shut up.” 

A small smile flashed across her face and Sutton found herself growing ever more fond of Sam Wilson.

“We’ll have to be vigilant.” Steve eyed everyone around the room, maintaining his steady, confident exterior. “We’re going to have to work together if we want any chance of winning this fight.”

 

She wanted to trust in what he said. She wanted to believe in it so badly. But what he continued to offer wasn’t a plan. It was simple encouragement at best. Was there a plan? 

Did  _ anyone  _ have a plan?

A scarier thought, would it matter if they did?

 

Mars, Mars, Mars.  _ He  _ was by Mars. But that was minutes ago. Surely it wouldn’t take long to figure out that still wasn’t the right planet. He could be darkening their sky any moment. 

Sutton looked to Tony, but he was hunched over, rubbing at his forehead.

If he hadn’t done this to her, she could do something. She could act and use her ability to get rid of this problem and get rid of his anxiety. 

He was just too stubborn! 

 

She looked away when she saw him lift his head. 

“Well, seems like we’re getting things all sorted.” The Doctor attempted to ease the tension with a smile and some wide gesturing. 

“Yes; we need guns. And arrows. Lots of them.”

The Doctor frowned and the room hushed as everyone turned to stare openly at Clint. His eyes trailed around the room with a growing confusion. 

“That’s where this conversation was going, right? I’m not catching all of it, to be honest.”

 

With SHIELD completely demolished and their only real option for backup the military, they began discussing how to go about organizing. Sutton had no contacts and no experience with war strategy, and the talking was only really giving her an ulcer. She moved away from the group in order to take a few moments to just tune out. 

She walked over to one of the glass windows overlooking the lawn and leaned against it. It was peaceful outside. Tranquil. If only there were a way she could soak in some of that for herself. 

This panicked, emotional state wasn’t something that she could maintain for long. She knew that. It was exhausting and unhelpful and she needed to pull herself up by the bootstraps and just face it. After all, she  _ had _ traveled universes alone. She had faced Khan and defended herself, even if she hadn’t exactly  _ escaped _ with her own abilities. But facing Thanos felt bigger. More. 

Perhaps it was just because she knew it was coming. Knew how powerful he was supposed to be. 

There was a sigh behind her and then the Doctor leaned his back against the window to face her. 

“Humans in any universe always seem to jump to weaponry first,” he said. Sutton rolled her eyes. 

“I wish that’d actually work in this case. I’m afraid there’s no talking this guy down peacefully. He’s not that type of villain.” 

The Doctor merely hummed quietly, neither agreeing or disagreeing with her. He tilted his head in Sutton’s peripheral vision. 

“You know, I’ve visited different dimensions before, but I’ll admit I’ve never made a trip quite this intense. And that was in the TARDIS. I’m a bit amazed, actually, that you made it back in one piece. Well, mostly, it seems.” 

Sutton tapped absently at her chest. 

“My heart gave out. I’m only alive because of Tony. But some nights, a lot recently, I can’t sleep. I think maybe I should’ve just listened to you when I had the chance. Giving up my memories doesn’t seem as big of a deal now, with what’s at stake.” 

He dipped his head down, trying to catch her eye. Sutton only made eye contact out of reflex. He didn’t look angry. Serious, perhaps, but not angry. 

“Maybe,” he said. “But then this big baddie still existed, yeah? You think the Daleks would’ve stopped being a problem if I’d sacrificed myself to them to save the earth?” 

 

Sutton let out a snort at the idea and the Doctor perked up. 

“See? Ridiculous. You’ve got to work with the situation you’re in.” He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him, making sure that she maintained eye contact as he looked at her. “But here’s the most important part,” he said. “You can never, ever give up hope. It’s been my experience that, no matter what, there is surprisingly always hope. So hold onto it.”

Sutton nodded and brushed her knuckles under her eyes. 

“I am sorry, though,” she said. “You know, for running off and almost destroying every universe. Looking at it in retrospect-” 

But the Doctor merely smiled gently and gave her shoulders a squeeze. 

“Nothing to do but help fix it now, eh?”

 

Just for that second, he sounded like Ten and Sutton’s face furrowed in curiosity. The Doctor winked and gave her shoulders another squeeze. 

“You’re right,” she said. “Thank you. Really.” 

 

_ Hope. _

 

The Doctor was right. In a world filled with superheroes, surely there was an abundance of hope. That’s what those stories had at their base, wasn’t it? 

Sutton took a centering breath and stood tall. As tall as she was able. The others were still strategizing as far as she could discern. 

“I should probably go back to try and help.” 

“Right-o!” 

He appeared chipper again, but there was a pull at his eyes that spoke of weight of their situation. Even if he wasn’t as concerned about Thanos as he should be, the universes collapsing was obviously paramountly serious. 

“With so many people together, we’re bound to come up with something,” he said.

“Besides you, we’ve got two ex-SHIELD agents, two military heroes, and a super genius. Hopefully they can come up with some idea.” 

He chuckled. 

 

They both meandered back over to rejoin the group. The Doctor split away from her with a worried expression upon hearing Clint suggest that they just nuke Thanos out of the sky. Sutton knew him well enough now to know he was joking. She cast a second glance at Clint and bit her lip. 

_ He was totally joking. _

 

Sutton slid back over in between Steve and Sam, closer to Steve, and pretended that she didn’t notice that she had. From the tail end of the conversation she was catching, it sounded like the U.S. military was actually responding to NASA’s findings as if it were a hostile threat. Which it, of course, was. Ships and aircraft were prepared to be deployed upon command.

Rhodey certainly was a wealth of information. And quick to call Tony to share it. 

She sighed, forcing all the air out of her lungs, and rubbed at her face. 

“How are you feeling?” Sutton peered up at Steve. 

_ Stronger, stronger, stronger.  _ This was the part where she picked up the mantle and started acting like a hero just like the rest of the group. 

“Ready to do something,” she said.    
  


Steve shot a look down to the damaged switch on her wrist and he pulled his lips back in a poor attempt at an agreeing smile. 

“Just in time.” 

She nodded with a shrug. If she told herself she was ready, and repeated positive mantras over and over in her head, surely she could convince herself. Sam snorted. 

“I don’t think anyone’s ready. Have you seen this team? Y’all replaced Thor with some scrawny guy with no eyebrows and tacked on a James Bond villain on top of everything.”

“James Bond,” asked Steve. Sutton pat his arm. 

“He’s the British spy. The terrible ladies man one.” 

Steve tilted his head back and nodded.

“Ah. That guy.” 

 

There was another lull in their conversation. From the side of the room, Clint and Natasha were advocating for battle tactics with the Doctor. Tony was talking to someone on his phone. Based on his hand gestures, Sutton guessed that he was trying to do some serious convincing.

“Do you know who he’s talking to?” 

“I think I heard him trying to convince Pepper to leave town,” Steve said. “She sounds stubborn.” 

Sutton’s gut only twisted further. 

“Oh.” 

Steve rested a hand on her shoulder. 

“Tony will be ok,” he said. “We’re all in this together.”

“He’s got to be just as careful about his heart as I do,” she said.”Look at him. He looks like a wreck.”

Both Steve and Sam tilted their heads in sheepish agreement. 

 

Sutton tried to sneak another glance at Tony while he was distracted, when movement caught her eye. Outside the wide, open windows a figure darted out of view. Blood rushed through her limbs as she tried to pin down who it was. 

Not Thor, they weren’t big enough. 

Not Bruce, he wasn’t that lean. 

 

The figure peered around one of the outside walls and Sutton took a shaky step back. Steve’s hand stayed on her shoulder even as she began to pull away. 

The mysterious person’s face was painfully recognizable. 

Axel Ladino. 

 

“No. No, no.” Sutton muttered. Her voice was barely audible as her brain spun. He was dead! There’d been a hole in his head and his chest. 

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and stood on end. The body of Axel Ladino beckoned her over. 

 

“What is it?” 

She hadn’t realized she’d gone stiff and still. Sutton swallowed and cleared her throat. 

“Nothing. Probably just more leak through from other universes.” 

Steve followed her line of sight, but the figure was gone. 

“I thought the suit was supposed to stop that?”  
“I don’t know.”  
  


That was the implication she’d gotten as well. It wasn’t like Tony’s tech to fail. Perhaps she should check. Just to make sure. 

She  _ knew _ that Axel was dead. He was human, and humans didn’t recover from the wounds he’d received. If she could just mosey over and see for herself that he wasn’t truly there, she could clear the whole thing up. Stop the shake that was rattling up from her toes. 

 

“Excuse me for a second.”

“Wait, Sutton.” 

 

Sutton slowed to a stop and felt Steve’s fingertips at her elbow. He gently put pressure on her arm, urging her to face him, and she followed the movement. His face was pensive but there was a determined sheen in his eyes that had her face scrunching in confusion. 

“Yeah?”  
“Can I- can we talk for a second?”  
  


A new thrill ran up her spine even as she nodded. Her feet moved almost on autopilot as she followed his lead to a quiet corner of the room.

He hadn’t seen Axel too, had he? Or maybe he’d seen her try to move the broken switch. Did he somehow know how badly it felt like her insides were being turned to soup?

 

They stood parallel with a blank wall, dead wires poking out of unfinished electrical

boxes and tile floor peeling up in the corners. She waited, shifted from foot to foot, as he seemed to collect his thoughts. It must be fairly serious to him if he was still doing that. The man could give an inspiring speech off the top of his head, but throw him into a conversation and suddenly he had to plan his words. 

“This might sound really stupid, given the circumstances,” he finally said. “But, well, we don’t really know how much time we might have left, right? Historically speaking, waiting for the right moment hasn’t ever done me any favors. ” 

Sutton tilted her head to the side as her fingers twitched. The thing that looked like Axel could disappear any moment.

“Steve?” 

He let out a breathy chuckle and shook his head before looking back down at her. 

“What I’m trying to ask is, when this is all over, do you want to maybe go get a coffee or something?”

 

If her heart could’ve skipped a beat, this was the moment it would have. Sutton swallowed thickly and told herself to be rational. To stay cool. This was  _ Steve Rogers. _

“Of course! I love our coffee chats.”    
Steve rolled his eyes as she spoke and sighed. 

“As in a date, Sutton,” he said. “Do you want to go on a date? With me.”   
Heat rushed into her face and her arc reactor hummed in her chest. Sutton stuttered, clawing for words as she gazed up at him. 

“Me,” she questioned. Her voice lilted high. “With me? A date. You want to?”

Steve covered his mouth with his hand, his fingers curled and rested over his lips as he nodded. The floor disappeared from underneath her and her skin prickled with a thousand tiny exploding fireworks. So many things suddenly clicked into place even as she felt like she was pressing through waves of confusion. 

“If you don’t-”

“Yes!” 

 

Sutton reached out as if he would simply change his mind and walk away. Her face split in a wide grin. 

“Yes, definitely. Absolutely. I just never thought- never imagined-”

“Sutton.” He rested his fingertips on her elbows and gave her a soft smile. “As hard as it might be for you to believe, I’ve liked you for awhile. You’re amazing.” 

“You actually like me,” she said through a giggle. “What a nerd-oh! Oh no. What if that’s messing up the time-” 

Steve groaned and put his hands on either side of her face, directing her attention back to him. 

“I don’t care. No one cares. We’re our own world right? And now you’re part of it. Please, for once-” 

“Ok. Ok, fine.” 

Steve blinked. 

“Well, alright. That was a bit easier than I thought. Usually you argue more.” 

Sutton shrugged while grinning. 

“I’ve been selfish before. And if you’re insisting, I’m not going to say no.”

“Well good to know.”

“Hey now, that doesn’t mean that applies to-”    
  


The figure was back. Steve frowned as she fell silent. 

 

It was just her imagination. It was just a version of him from another universe. She was stressed. It could be a simple mental break down. 

 

She’d promised herself that she wouldn’t freak out and be scared anymore. 

“I just, um, need two seconds,” she said. Steve frowned. 

“What is it? You look scared again. Did you see something?” 

“It’s nothing. I just, I just need to check on something really quick. I’ll be right back.”    
She pulled away from him and limped for the exit nearest where she’d last seen the figure. Steve’s footsteps sounded behind her. 

“What aren’t you saying?” 

“A couple minutes,” Sutton begged. “Just, just give me a couple minutes to confirm it’s what I think it is.”

“You’re making this sound ominous.” 

Sutton laughed. 

“What isn’t, at this point? Look, no one knows we’re up here, right? And you all would know if someone was on their way? I’m sure we’re all safe as we can be for the moment. I just… I need to make myself do this.” 

He didn’t look happy, but he fell back and stood at the building’s entrance. Sutton gave him a grateful wave and continued on, promising to call for help if she needed it. 

Why she needed to do this on her own, she wasn’t quite sure. If it was a vision, Steve wouldn’t be able to see it anyway. Nothing would change. But there was just a feeling, a prompting perhaps, that she was supposed to figure this out on her own. 

And maybe she wanted to prove to herself that she could be just as brave as everyone else. 

 

The windows turned to solid wall around the side of the building. Sutton kept her hand against the metal sheets as if that would give her some stability. Short trees stretched out ahead of her, and she could just make out the shape of the lake in the distance. The once peaceful silence was now eerie. Looming. 

She felt like she’d just stepped into a horror film and committed herself to being the dumb character who checks the basement at the beginning. 

Still, she’d already come this far. The figure wasn’t anywhere to be seen and she wondered if perhaps she really had hallucinated him. Though, of all people she wasn’t sure why him. 

Sutton stopped at the back of the building and searched the field for any whisper of a shadow. Nothing. 

“I saw you,” she called out, her voice only slightly raised. “I know you’re not real because you’re dead.” 

The breeze tickled her neck. Trees swayed. There was silence. 

 

“Perhaps I picked the wrong human to impersonate. Or do you use the “supposed to be dead” line on everyone?” 

 

Sutton shrieked, but the sound was cut off as a hand clamped over her mouth and she was pushed up against the back of the building. 

“Hush. I’m trying to  _ avoid _ detection. I took a big enough risk finding you and coming here in the first place.” 

She pried the hand away from her face and gasped. 

“Loki?”  
“ _Shh!_ Do you _want_ me killed?” 

 

It was Loki’s voice. Loki’s voice coming out of a dead man’s mouth. 

“Shapeshift? You can shapeshift now too?” 

“You have absolutely no true understanding of magic, do you.” She jerked away, but Loki pushed her back against the wall. “You have very little time left. I came to tell you that you need to act  _ now  _ if you wish to avoid calamity and ruin.” 

Sutton glared. 

“I’ve been benched. You obviously missed the part where Tony put me in this time out suit then broke it. And you didn’t tell me He could-could use telepathy or whatever. That-that wasn’t traumatizing at all.” 

“It will only grow worse. You don’t even know half of the pain He can inflict. And here I thought you cared about your friends’ lives.” 

“Shut up! You’re not helping. And if you’re so afraid of Him, why even show up on the one planet He’s heading for?”  
He let out a short laugh and moved away. Sutton rolled her shoulders and huffed as she moved away from the wall. 

“I’m not stupid,” Loki said. “I’m not here at all. For your own sake, don’t make me have to change that. End Him now.” 

 

Axel’s form disappeared and Sutton was left alone once more. 

 

That felt like the final toll of a bell. The warning rang out through the field. 

 

Steve’s voice called out from around the building and Sutton let him know she was fine. Her eyes searched the sky above, but it was still clear and unmarred. It was wrong. 

She turned back and rejoined the others. 

 

Leave it to Loki to ruin her one good moment in all of this. 


	17. Chapter 17

The consensus seemed to be that their best bet was to try to catch Thanos off guard by going on the offense and trying to hit him first. None of them really knew much about who they were facing, not enough to truly strategize. All Sutton could offer was "big", "bad", "can communicate mentally, don't ask for details".

Apparently since Sutton was momentarily "invisible" to this universe, they felt it was safe enough, and necessary, to leave the compound. Teaming up with the military was also probably a necessary move. Or at least coordinating with them. As much as that made Sutton's stomach churn she knew that numbers and more guns were at least  _something._  It was half a step up from nothing.

_Nothing._

Loki's previous taunt rang in her head as she sidled next to Steve and seethed. He was so incredibly desperate that he'd resorted to going to  _her_  for help, but the most he'd given her in advice was to use nothing against Thanos.

What was she supposed to do? Fight him with the power of positivity? Sutton didn't claim to be the brightest crayon in the box, but she wasn't  _stupid_. She knew that by herself, using her own undeveloped ability, she wasn't a match against the incoming threat. That course of action had been thoroughly shot down. But she would have believed the trickster god to have something to offer that was a bit more clever than  _nothing._

Sutton rubbed at her temple and tried to knead the unhelpful thoughts away. She had to be focused, efficient. There wasn't time for her to dwell on the inactions of a person who wasn't even a real ally.

"You're being awfully quiet."

She looked up at Steve and smiled thinly. His brow was furrowed in a familiar way that was distinctly  _Steve_.

"Sorry. Just desperately trying to think of something helpful."

"You sure it isn't because of whatever you were looking for outside?"  
She broke their eye contact and her gaze flickered to the windows out at the lawn around them.

"It wasn't anything important," she said. There was movement in the room as people started to wrap up the conversation. "Where are we going?"

"You weren't listening at all, where you?"

She winced sheepishly and shook her head.

Natasha materialized beside Sutton and leaned an elbow on her shoulder. Her eyes flickered between Steve and Sutton and a ghost of a smirk flashed across her face.

"We're leaving the compound," she said. "If we want to fight, we're going to need gear and back up. Tony said NASA is predicting the space anomaly will enter earth's atmosphere somewhere around DC."

Sutton clapped her hands together once and held them closed, her lips curling up in an ironic humor.

"Well of course it is," she said. "We  _are_  in a universe with superheroes and extraterrestrial drama. It had to be either DC or New York. Maybe Tokyo. Might want to tell them to evacuate the White House."

Steve squinted.

"That's another movie reference," he said. Natasha gave him a light punch in the arm.

"Look who's catching up."

Sutton inwardly sighed as she watched people move. Clint and Sam were chatting in the corner, looking as if they were discussing what to do with Khan, if their hand gestures were any indication. Somehow Tony had convinced the Doctor to let him look over his sonic screwdriver and he turned it over in his hands as if it were something he  _should_  be interested in instead of looking excited.

"I wish Thor would get here soon," she said. "Then we could get at least the universes stable again."

"Using an Infinity Stone could let him know exactly where we are. We'll have to be careful."

"Steve has a point," Nat said. "We can't risk him getting ahold of that thing."

Of course not. If anything should definitely not happen, it was Thanos getting any of his grubby fingers on any one of the Infinity Stones. Sutton tilted her head and cut her eyes at Natasha.

"Do you have any spare clothes," she asked. Natasha clicked her tongue.

"You know, I think I left my slumber party bag at home."

"I'm serious, Nat!"

"Me too."

Sutton pressed her lips together and breathed out of her nose as Nat merely looked at her with a false innocence.

"Well, then what's the point of having me around, if you don't let me help," she argued. "We all know I can't fight like any of you. I need this.  _You_ guys need what I can do."

From across the room, Tony looked up from the sonic screwdriver and handed it back to its owner.

"What we need is for you not to kill yourself."

Sutton stiffened and glowered, irritation flickering up anew. She said nothing. Tony frowned.

"This is the part where you say something sarcastic yet well-meaning back."

The silence rang almost painfully. Tony took a step back, blinking a few times in quick succession, and the Doctor cleared his throat.

"Well, she's not wrong about needing her," he said. "If your friend comes through with this Tesseract, Sutton here is the only link between universes. We'll need her ability to channel it and reach all those tears."

"Wait, what?" Natasha shifted and crossed her arms, her chin tilting back as her eyes sparked. "That cube is dangerous," she said. "It'll kill her if she tries to use it unrestrained."

Steve hedged in front of her slightly, as if the Doctor was about to shove the cube into her hands right this moment.

"There has to be another way," he said. Sutton pulled him back by the elbow.

"We'll deal with it when we get there," she said, her tone suddenly softer. "We don't even know if Thor got our message yet. Let's focus on one thing at a time."

"Oh dear." The Doctor sat his hands on his hips and grimaced. "We have to things in chronological order now, don't we? This is going to be tedious."

"Think of it as a fun learning experience," Sutton said. She ran her hand through her hair and winced as it snagged on a knot. "Does anyone  _at least_  have a rubber band?"

**[]**

Honestly, if someone had started a conversation with Sutton with, " _Tony Stark, the Doctor, and Khan get on a plane,"_ she would have been anticipating some sort of punch line. But there wasn't one. There was no punch line to any of this. It was simply her life now.

Of course, everyone was on the plane. It was probably more people than the private jet usually carted.

Nat and Clint were sitting back to back and seemed to be trying to squeeze in as much sleep as they could in their brief down time. Khan was once again secured in the back away from everyone else, the Doctor was twitching in his seat as if this was the most heinous form of torture he'd yet endured, and Sutton was leaning against Steve's chair as he talked quietly with Sam. Tony sat at the front of the plane. Alone and on his phone. Her gut wrenched a little.

Tony shouldn't ever be alone. He thought too much.

Sutton absentmindedly ran her thumb over the mangled switch on her wrist.

But he still hadn't apologized. Didn't even seem like he regretted what he'd done. They were heading towards the danger, planning to face the threat of Thanos head on, and he still was being headstrong and stubborn. What? Did she have to be the bigger person every time?

She scowled and tapped her fingers on the armrest.

What if she didn't want to? What if she felt like being just as stubborn and  _right?_  Because this time she knew she had a right to be upset. And yet, as she'd just noted, they were about to head into what could be a messy battle for the fate of every world.

"Do you really want this bothering you with what we're jumping into?"

Sutton turned sharply in her seat. Steve was looking down at her, his face serious but soft. She didn't know when he'd stopped talking to Sam. Sitting up straighter in her seat, she shook her head dismissively, her ponytail brushing the back of her neck.

"What?"

Steve nodded at the front of the plane.

"You haven't even been in a disagreement with him for a full day and it's already driving you crazy." Sutton rolled her eyes.

"It's more than a disagreement. And it isn't  _driving me crazy_. I can handle being mad at Tony for longer than you think."

Steve smiled.

"He's family to you at this point," he said. "No you can't. And I think you've touched that switch at least fifteen times on the plane alone."

Sutton cut her eyes at him and let out a short, huffy laugh.

"Keeping tabs on me?"

His smile turned into a crooked grin.

"Maybe a little."

Sutton pursed her lips to hide the smile threatening to curl up her face. Steve reached over and covered her hand with his.

"But really, you should talk to him. It wouldn't be worth it to have regrets." She let out a breath and nodded. Because of course he was right. If Steve Rogers could vouch for Tony Stark then she knew it was serious.

He moved his hand and Sutton dared to brush her fingers over his as she stood to move across the plane. She could hear a short laugh behind her as she walked and Sam's low voice.

"Dude. You're already whipped."

Sutton coughed into her fist and adamantly kept moving.

Tony glanced up from his phone when she neared him. He looked like he needed sleep more than anyone else on the plane. Sutton sat down next to him silently and tried to figure out just what she wanted to say. While she  _was_ still irked with him, mostly because the wrong hadn't been  _undone_ , she could admit to herself that she wasn't as angry in the traditional sense. She hadn't expected his betrayal, true, but she was more upset that he was willing to put his life on the line in place of hers. As if she were worth more or something. Which was, of course, ridiculous.

He cut his eyes at her and then pretended he was more interested in a nonexistent text.

"Come to give me the silent treatment up close," he snipped. Sutton frowned and brushed a stray strand of hair back.

"No," she said. "I just- I wanted to tell you that... I forgive you."

Tony froze, his thumb hovering over his phone screen. He looked to her and slowly slid the phone in his pocket.

"I don't remember apologizing," he said. Sutton rolled her eyes.

"I know you didn't. And I know you probably aren't sorry. I still don't think you should've done it, even if I know why you did. But, Tony, I don't know what we're about to get into. I'm sure we can beat it together or whatever, but- but I don't want to be distracted with being mad when it won't matter in the long run. Steve was right, you're family to me now whether you like it or not. And lord knows I can't stay mad at family forever."

He remained silent and refused to look at her for a minute or two. Sutton drummed her fingers on the armrest.

"You lasted a whole three and a half hours," he finally said. "I'm worried about you kid. If you and Capsicle do get together all he's going to have to do is flash some puppy-dog eyes and you're going to cave."

"I would not."

"You honestly believe that, don't you? So this is what true delusion looks like."

Sutton scoffed lightly and pushed his shoulder.

"Whatever, Tony. Can you please just take a nap now, or eat, or something? I can't remember the last time you took a break."

He merely huffed indignantly and leaned back against his seat.

"I'm Tony Stark," he said. "I don't need breaks."  
"Well, you deserve one," Sutton argued. "Even if you drive me crazy and threaten to fire me."

She stood to head back over to her own seat, but hesitated before she moved fully away. Tony eyed her in curiosity. Sutton took a deep breath then bent at the waist and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

Like she used to do for Tyrese. Like she used to get from her mother.

Tony seemed almost stunned to dumbness. Sutton straightened and cleared her throat. She offered him a half smile before she hesitatingly patted him twice on the shoulder and moved towards the isle.

"Family, huh," he called after her. Sutton paused and looked over her shoulder. Tony flashed her a grin. "Should I draw up the adoption papers now or later?"

She snorted.

"You imagine yourself as the responsible adult?  _There's_  delusion."  
Tony ran his thumb under his fingernails idly and pinned her with a droll look.

"Alright," he said. "Fine. No new cell phone for you when this is all over."

Sutton whipped around fully and held up placating hands.

"Now, hey, wait a second-"

**[][]**

When they touched down and entered DC, it was a very different city than the one Sutton had jogged through with Steve. Military vehicles were pouring in from surrounding bases and fighter jets screamed overhead as they patrolled the skies. Sutton felt the gravity sink in a little more. The Doctor tutted as he eyed the military presence.

"Not feeling wonderful about this, to be frank," he said. "I wish I could've taken my TARDIS. Unfortunately though, I don't think even she could tell me about the alien species you lot have here."

"It's a  _she_ ," questioned Nat as she walked by. The Doctor looked perplexed.

"Well of course."

"It's a ship, of course it's a she. Keep up Nat," said Tony. Nat shot Tony a snide look and he grinned in a irritatingly smug way.

Sutton wondered what they looked like to outsiders. A large group of people ambling over towards the swarming military troops and towards obvious danger. All of them rag-tag and being held together by sheer force of will and caffeine when they could get it.

Except for maybe Khan. He was probably still going on pure, unbridled rage. They left him in the plane. Sedated. As much as they were able. I.e., someone hit him really hard over the head.

"Rhodey!"

Rhodey was among the military front lined up on the block that they were occupying. He was already suited up as War Machine and giving short orders to a few higher ups to disperse to the various troops. Tony loped over to talk with his friend and the rest of them lingered.

The streets, as she'd noted, were littered with uniformed men and women. They edged uneasily on sidewalks and street corners; the roads unnaturally silent for DC. Their eyes constantly scanned the skies.

Searching.

Waiting.

Dreading.

There was a large absence of civilian people, however. Sutton wasn't sure if there had been any evacuations, or if people were just warned to stay indoors. She couldn't imagine everyone getting out of the city in the short time frame they'd been given.

"How long do we have," Sam asked. He was sticking close to Steve and eyeing the activity going on around them. He probably had a decent idea of how they were organizing given his previous service. Clint slung his quiver over his back as he followed after them and looked up as he fiddled with the hearing aid in his ear.

"Did someone say something?"

"Given how quickly this guy moved from the outer edges of the solar system to Mars, I'm guessing not long," said Steve.

"Aw, yeah, no worries," said Clint. "I wasn't interested in being a part of this conversation anyway."

Sutton rolled her eyes and signed as she slowly spoke, given that Clint hadn't had the chance to master ASL yet.

"He asked how long," she said She pressed the backs of her fingers together and twisted them up, then drew a line up her left arm with her pointer finger. "Steve said not much."

Clint frowned.

"Oh goody."

But she knew that Steve was right, she'd been saying the same thing. Loki had been hounding her with that bit of information for too long now. Her stomach did a summersault and she searched through the mass of armed soldiers.

"Do you think anyone has a spare uniform? Or even a t-shirt? Like, a big one though."  
Steve cut his eyes at her. He'd stiffened since they'd gotten off the plane. Squared his shoulders more. Walked with a practiced, marching stride.

"You're not going to like it, but I wish you weren't here at all," he said. "You should get somewhere safe."

"I don't know why you even bothered wasting your breath," said Sutton. Steve sighed. "He's coming here now because of me, Steve. I'm not leaving you all to fight this in my place. The faster you all come to terms with that, the faster we can all start focusing on the real issues here."

"Just, don't be out in the open. Ok? Stay under cover."  
Sutton mock saluted him but didn't make any verbal promises. Sam raised a skeptical brow. Clint merely rolled his eyes and announced that he was going to go find a better look out point.

Around them, Sutton could hear murmuring. The massive object had been tracked nearing earth now. It was arcing and expected to appear somewhere a bit north of their position. The soldiers were performing last minute checks, fiddling with their belts, or standing stoically. Sutton raked her hands over her head, lacing her fingers behind her head under her ponytail.

_How many of these people would die?_

No. No she couldn't- couldn't focus on that. Not right now.

Right now she was just going to focus on figuring out a way to get out of the suit without shaming herself in public. Honestly, she never would've thought it would be so difficult to get a change of clothes!

"Hey," Sutton called to a passing soldier. "Do you guys know if there are any spare-"

An explosion rocked the road from behind them.

The sky exploded in a searing bright light and unexpected heat. Concrete and asphalt shot through the air in crumbling pieces and there were loud screams as people stumbled and fled from the detonation.

The south. The attack had come from the south.

Sutton ducked down and turned to look, her breathing already picking up pace as she stared wide eyed at the destruction behind her. A shadow was dropping from the sky. No, two shadows. They grew in size as they fell. Larger than an average human. Sutton couldn't make out their faces, but she knew. She just knew.

They weren't human at all.

They landed with a force that cracked the road and sent shockwaves through Sutton's bones.

For a moment it was silent. The military, the Avengers, the aliens. No one moved. The figures were tall and pulled lean, the cut of their metallic armor and suits only elongating them sinisterly. It was, as far as one could tell, a man and a woman. The male had an unnaturally sharp face, like a pointed skeleton on which skin had been pulled too tight. Pointed teeth gleamed behind nonexistent lips and his eyes sat inset of his face, two bronze irises evaluating the army before him. The woman had blue skin and hair, and she looked taller than her partner only because of the headdress she wore. Two splitting, u-shaped arches curved over her head and her skintight suit sported armor only over one arm. They both carried one weapon each. The woman, a shining spear and the man a wickedly curved blade on a long staff.

When the silence had stretched a beat too long, the woman smiled, a sharp, menacing, flashing of teeth.

"Boo."

Shouts broke out and soldiers scrambled into well rehearsed formations to strike back. There was the  _rat-tat-tat_ of gunfire and Sutton dropped, her experience on the bridge still fresh in her mind.

"Who're these guys," Clint's voice called somewhere above the chaos. "Mini bosses?"

"Sutton," Steve yelled over the commotion. "Stay down; get back!"

She backpedaled and disappeared behind another line of soldiers as she saw Tony and Rhodey take to the sky in their suits. The hostile beings appeared unaffected and unbothered by the gunfire. Typical.

The woman raised her glowing spear in her hand. She hefted it defty, almost casually, and then threw it towards their defenses. The spear arced, splitting into multiple beams of searing light which shot through firing soldiers and several armored trucks. Cries were cut short as people were just...vaporized. Sutton threw a hand over her mouth and tried to keep breathing.

"Pathetic creatures of this planet," the man spoke. He had a low gravelly voice that carried far too much amusement. "We are the Black Order. And we come in the name of our Master, Thanos! Grovel now, give to us your Infinity Stones and The Door, and he may still show mercy. You will die quickly."

There was more shouting. People telling these creatures to stand down. To leave of their own accord. The woman placed her hand on her companion's shoulder, leaning into him, and grinned.

"Oh, Corvus," she said. "It's been too long. I almost forgot how much I loved this part of the job."

Someone grabbed Sutton around the shoulders and she almost leapt out of her skin.

" _Shh, shh._ " The Doctor held a finger up to his mouth and Sutton sighed in relief. He was keeping a wary eye on the alien invaders and he pulled her back further out of their view.

"They can't get ahold of you," he said lowly. "Every world would come crashing down. I thought there was just the one we had to worry about."

"I didn't- I thought it was just him. I-I never read the comics. I didn't get a chance to find out."

Repulsors charged with a loud ringing and the Avengers without flight abilities broke through the front of the ranks. The one that had been referred to as Corvus lifted his curved blade from his side.  
"So be it," he said. "We'll do things…  _the fun way._ Proxima?" The woman smiled another terrible, toothy grin.

"With pleasure."

Sutton's stomach dropped and despite the cold terror in her gut, she surged forward.

"No, no, no, no. Bad."

The Doctor pulled her back.

"You can't help them like this, Sutton," he said. "Besides, that woman's spear is made from some sort of supernova. You won't last a minute."

"What?"  
"I scanned it."

The loud popping of gunfire ripped through the air again and Sutton ducked back further.

And the team. The team! They were fighting on the front lines. Fighting these inhuman monsters. There was only two of them. Sutton tugged at the neck of her suit. If she could just get it off, it wouldn't take much to end this. There was only two of them! They could overcome them with numbers alone. Why did bullets never affect aliens? Why was that a thing? Cliche! Too cliche.

Boots thudded, scrambled, scraped against pavement and Sutton and the Doctor were pushed further and further back away from the main battle.

"Can't you do something? Sonic something?" The Doctor pressed his lips together, eyes dimming.

"I can't. The walls- they're already precarious as it is."

Another huge shudder rocked the ground and Sutton tensed. Corvus had been thrown back into one of the nearby buildings, crumbling brick and mortar with the impact. He laughed as he pulled himself out of the collapsing structure. Even from a distance his sharp teeth were visible.

Steve's shield went flying, aiming right for Corvus' face, but the alien batted it away with his blade. Beams of light cut through more soldiers. One was heading straight for Nat who was unsuccessfully attempting to move out of the way. Tony dropped down at the last second, shooting a repulsor beam of his own. The lights collided with a deafening blast that took out the first floors of at least three different buildings.

It was chaos. And they were just Thanos' lackeys.

The military men and women weren't faring well. Proxima's light spear was effectively vaporizing them in clusters. If they didn't somehow get that weapon away from her, Sutton wasn't sure how long the fight would last.

The fight was moving down the street. More destruction being left in its wake. Sutton panted and searched the open spaces growing around her. Scattered supplies were laying across the road, a few stray boots here and there, and dropped weapons. Sutton took a steadying breath and grit her teeth then darted forward and picked up a gun the length of her entire arm.

"I've got to do something." Her voice was faint, breathless. The Doctor grimaced at the gun and raised a finger as if about to suggest something else. Sutton pulled back on the gun's slide to check that it was loaded like she'd seen Nat do once or twice. Her eyes cut up to the Doctor and she took another breath.

"Let me rephrase that," she said. "I'm  _going_  to do something."


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brought to you by "The Infinity War Trailer" and "My Interpretations and Blatant Twisting To Suit My Own Purposes".
> 
> So basically, from this point on my fic is definitely AU. I'm just taking some things from the trailer and plan on using them for my own fic needs. So I know it isn't exactly the same or lining up!
> 
> Hope you all enjoy this chapter, it was pretty fun, and I'm excited for the rest of the story! :)

Sutton jogged with the Doctor at her heels through what was quickly becoming a demolished DC. It wasn't quite at the New York Invasion levels. Not yet. But there was still a twisted, horrified feeling curling in her gut as she tried to catch up. She didn't even know exactly what she was planning on doing once she got to the fight. She'd already seen that gunfire didn't really bother either of the villains, but she still felt she had to try something.

She wasn't going to sit back and wait.

She wasn't going to let her friends face this alone.

It was easy to track where the fight was going. A series of broken buildings and ripped up roads served as a breadcrumb trail.

"Sutton," the Doctor called behind her. "Sutton, may I ask what exactly you suppose you're going to do?"

She paused, panting. Sharp pains shot through the meat of her left leg where the muscle still wasn't healed. The destruction split off in two different directions. She eyed the shattered windows and chunks of concrete, then chose the more broken looking path.

"I don't know," she admitted. "But you usually don't either when you rush into things, right?"

"Well usually I'm not the link that can crumble every universe who's running towards the very beings that want to use me for that express purpose."

"Fair." Sutton shrugged, freezing when she saw a beam of light take out the side of a building. "Crap!"

She ducked down as chunks of concrete flew overhead. Clouds of debris filled dust had her coughing as she rose back up to her feet. The gun was growing heavy as she continued on, but she flexed her fingers, readjusted her grip, and kept running. Bless Steve for making her jog.

" _Watch out! On your six!"  
_ " _Can these things even die?"_

Voices echoing through the streets let Sutton know she was close. She took an unsteady breath and kept her eyes up. The city hadn't been fully evacuated, if at all. There were more civilians out now. People screaming and running. In some places bricks and walls had been knocked away exposing frightened families huddled inside their homes.

Sutton had known the feeling of her insides being shred to pieces, had hopped universe after universe, survived torture, and fought against figures she'd never thought she'd meet. But she'd never actually seen war. Not a full on assault on a city. Never been a part of it while it was actually happening.

Flashing red and gold blazed by. There was a rhythmic popping as Rhodey hovered overhead, unloading small missiles at their enemies.

It was all so loud. It was all so frantic.

"Standing out in the open isn't actually the wisest choice," the Doctor reminded her. Sutton shook out of her stupor and nodded, backing away until she was pressed up against the wall of some still standing building. She watched the fighting with unblinking eyes and tried to track where Corvus and Proxima were going.

"They have to have a weakness," she said. "Some unprotected spot or something that affects them. There's always something."

"It's just finding it that's the problem."

"If the universes weren't falling apart, your TARDIS would really come in handy right about now."

"The TARDIS cannot be used except for when we're repairing those tears," the Doctor said, his tone firm. "Otherwise she'll do some pretty decent tearing of her own. All the way open."

Sutton rolled her eyes. Caught sight of the one called Proxima.

"You can't do anything without wrecking ,  _I can't_ do anything without destroying. How the heck did the Avengers ever get to me in the first place?"

But the Doctor didn't have time for an intelligent or witty reply. Proxima was lifting her spear, aiming it for Clint. Clint who was trying to direct a family away from the fight. Clint who couldn't hear yells of warning.

Sutton felt the shot of panic that raced through her. She felt it, felt her arc reactor hum, but pushed herself forwards without thinking anyway.

Clint was a friend.

Clint had saved her life.

She lifted the gun higher and squinted one eye shut as she took aim at the tall, armored figure. There wasn't any hope of her being a better shot than trained military personnel, but the antler-like headdress Proxima was wearing was rather large. Her finger pulled down on the trigger and a stream of bullets screamed out of the barrel. Some kind of automatic weapon then. All Sutton knew was that she saw a couple bursts of bright light reflect off her target.

Proxima snarled as she pulled back and she snapped her head down to see who dared attack her. Sutton panted as the force of the gun knocked her backwards; her nerves were frayed and frying as they made eye contact. There was a white fire in those dark eyes. Sutton could see it even from a distance. Proxima aimed her spear at Sutton and let it fly.

She could feel the heat of it from half a block away. Its bright, hot rays sped towards her faster than she could think to move.

The Doctor lunged in front of her and pointed his sonic screwdriver at the incoming projectile. There was a booming explosion so violent that Sutton was afraid she'd bitten through her tongue. Light arced and flashed around them, ricocheting away, and broke through the road in a devastating ring. Sutton dropped the gun down to her side and gripped around the Doctor's waist as the world shook.

The sky flashed blue, pink, purple, black. The Doctor hissed.

"I can't do that again."

Sutton gaped.

"Did you see-"  
"I think everyone could."

The fighting had come to a momentary halt and all eyes were on them. Proxima flexed her fingers and the light spear reappeared in her hand.

"The Door," she said, looking at the Doctor. Sutton's eyes widened.

"Oh bother," said the Doctor.

Blue and red flashed in her vision and Steve's voice rose above the destruction.

"Sutton! Get out of here!"  
Sutton squinted again as she lifted the gun and aimed for Proxima's spear itself.

"You're not the boss of me," she called as she pulled back on the trigger. Proxima moved and the bullets missed their target. Sutton stopped firing and began running, grabbing the Doctor's sleeve and pulling him along with her as she hopped over the crater the blast had caused around them.

"So, new problem. I'm pretty sure she thinks you're 'The Door'."

"Unsurprising," said the Doctor. "I did just deflect a force equivalent to a-"

"No talking, just running!"

She ran down the street and tried to duck out of direct line of sight. The last thing she needed was  _the Doctor_  getting captured and possibly killed. There was rumbling and gunfire and buildings shaking precariously. Something was happening far off. Sutton could hear the echo of shouts in the distance and she wondered if there was more. Only two foes and the Avengers were being kept busy.

An enormous shadow darkened the streets. Sutton looked up to see a giant, alien ring hovering in the air. It was almost black, with bursts of a molten orange spinning rapidly through it, visible through slats in the gray. Almost like it was a type of armor over a core.

A great, massive thing that was just...floating. Looming.

"What," asked Sutton, "is that?"  
"I have no idea. But I don't like it."

Whatever it was, it wasn't good. She knew that much. It sent an uncomfortable pang through her just to look at it.

They needed things to  _deescalate_.

Shattering glass sounded at their back and Sutton turned in time to see a thick, wedge boot step out of a storefront window. She pushed the Doctor back behind her as she moved away.

"That's not Nat," she said.

Proxima pulled herself from the window and stood to her full height. Brushed some blue hair from her face as she straightened her headdress. It was the first time Sutton had seen her up close. Despite being humanoid, there was something strictly  _other_ about her that threw you off. Even if she didn't have the blue skin or hair. There was a sharpness to her. Some energy that made you queasy. A savage delight.

Proxima smiled as she set eyes on them. Sutton raised the gun.

"If you try to blast one of us, you kill us both," Sutton said.

"Normally that wouldn't be a problem." Proxima made a fist and the spear grew in her hand. "However, he  _does_ want his Doorway."

Sutton's stomach churned. She was torn between revealing the truth and letting the lie go on. If she tried to take the attention off of him, and told them that  _she_ was the Door, they might kill the Doctor. As long as they believed it was him, they'd leave him alive.

"How many galactic treaties are you breaking right now," the Doctor asked. Sutton shot a glare at him and hissed.

" _Shh."_

Proxima raised one arched brow.

"Treaties?" She laughed. "There are no treaties. Just the planets that Thanos deems worthy to rule, and those that he does not."

"And what happens to the planets not worthy?"

Proxima grinned.

"He gives a gift to his lover."

"Death," Sutton murmured.

She took another step backwards as Proxima tilted her head.

A whining sound grew from the street and a shadow swooped towards them. Proxima snapped to look. Sutton dropped the aim of her gun down, momentarily pulled the trigger, and the spray of the bullets exploded around her knees. Proxima shouted and then she was knocked back through the broken window as Steve dropped down from the sky, throwing a kick as he fell, and Sam pulled up just before he flew into the building.

Steve took two heavy steps to keep himself from falling alongside Proxima into the window and ducked as a blast shot out at him. Sutton pointed the barrel of the gun at the ground and stared wide-eyed as he turned and ran up to her. Her face felt hot. Steve grabbed her by the shoulders. His eyes were flinty and his fingers were flexing in a way that made it obvious he was holding back.

"Sutton," he said sternly. "Get.  _Out._  Of here."

She swallowed and let out a shuddering breath.

"I'll stay out of the way."

" _Sutton."_

"Duck!"

She grabbed his suit with her free hand and yanked as she dropped down, pulling him with her. Proxima's spear slashed over where his head had been as she swung it out in a wide arc. Sam dropped back in, distracting her, and Sutton shuffled backwards. She made eye contact with Steve one more time and pressed her lips together.

"Stay alive," she said. Steve nodded.

Sutton grabbed the Doctor's arm again and took off down the street as Sam and Steve held Proxima off.

"What's your plan now," asked the Doctor. Sutton grimaced.

"I try something else." She glanced down at the wiring embedded in the sleeves on her arms and clenched her teeth. "I need to get out of this suit."

"Do that and they'll know I'm not the doorway they're looking for."

"At least I'd be able to help."

The Doctor tugged on her arm. Sutton stopped and turned to look.

"Take it off, and if he has any of the same technology that I do, he may be able to use you. How do you think I got here? Once you know what to look for, your frequency isn't exactly subtle."

" _Gah!_ " Sutton exclaimed. She threw her hands up in exasperation, though the gun weighed one side down. "Anything else," she asked. "Why stop there?"

The Doctor gave her a small frown.

"Come now, no time for hysterics."

"Easy for you to say." Sutton griped. "You face world ending events on a weekly basis."

"It's been at least a month and a half, actually."

Sutton kept the gun, only because it made her feel safer. Like she had a means of power and control, even if it was mostly false. She hadn't been lying to Steve when she said she'd try to stay out of the way. But she hadn't promised to leave either.

There had to be something she could do.

She was pulled out of her musings as a group of people rushed down the street in her direction. They were glancing back at the giant ring in the sky, trying to get away from it. Sutton and the Doctor both rushed to cut them off.

"Not this way," she yelled. "It's not safe!"

The group came to a skidding stop, breathless and their eyes wide.

"What," a man near the front of the group croaked. He was clutching the hand of a woman who might've been his wife. "But it's not safe back there either!"

Sutton let out a little huff of air as panic rose. There was another reverberating quake as dust billowed up from around another building.

"Being near whatever that ring is, is probably safer than being near this fight at the moment," she said.

"I don't wanna go back to the monsters, mommy," a kid wailed. His mother hushed him and Sutton blinked.

"Monsters?"  
"Beasts, creatures, more aliens, I don't know," the same man said. "They're everywhere. Invading the downtown."

Sutton felt like cursing. She bit down on her tongue and her diaphragm seized as panic shot through her.

More? There was  _more?_

"Maybe-" started the Doctor.

"Can they be killed," Sutton interrupted. A few people looked at each other as if they didn't know, before someone in the back piped up,

"I think the military were able to pick a few off."  
"Sutton," warned the Doctor.

"The Avengers can't fight everywhere at once," she argued. "If we don't help, we're not going to win this. Now, I have a gun and I'm going to use it." Turning to the crowd, her face dipped in a sympathetic frown. "Last I saw, the main fight was going down two blocks from here. You might be able to swing around it. Good luck."

It wasn't like her. It wasn't like her to charge towards the danger. She knew that. There was still a prominent voice in the back of her head urging her to listen to Steve. Well, she was now, she supposed. Just not in a way he'd like.

But she was feeling half mad on fear and desperation. Brave or stupid, she didn't care as long as she was  _doing something_. If she dwelled on  _what_  she was doing for too long she'd chicken out.

"Sutton!"

She ignored the Doctor as she took off in the direction the crowd had pointed. The direction of downtown. The team was already struggling against Thanos' cronies. The least she could do was help out with the generic, low level baddies. Because that's what they had to be, right?  _Right?_

She hoped she had a few more bullets left in this gun. She didn't remember how to check.

The screaming grew the closer she got to the town center. People were being flushed from their hiding places. With The Avengers distracted with The Black Order, it was easy to attack the rest of the population. Sutton paused, panting and her leg aching horribly, as she eyed the streets, a few of the buildings.

She wasn't an idiot. If she just ran right into the mess, she'd be a splatter on the ground sooner rather than later. Her eyes caught sight of a low level building that looked out over the street. She darted into it as the screaming grew. There was no one inside. The lights were flickering and there were paper and files scattered on the floor as if people had just dropped them and ran. It was some kind of office space. Sutton ignored it all and headed for the stairwell. Disregarding the fact that it said  _employees only_ , she darted up the stairs as quickly as she could. Rules and restrictions hardly mattered at the moment.

The door leading to the roof was locked. Sutton took a bit out of a movie and shot at the door handle, being conservative with how many times she did so. The entire door handle fell to pieces and she shoved through the door with her shoulder and out onto the roof.

There was movement out on the street below. People were running, some right passed the building she was in now, and they were being chased.

The man hadn't been wrong when he called them beasts. They were aliens of some sort, though not human-like. Not like Corvus and Proxima. They were tall and hulking, with curving backs and thumb-like heads. Sutton couldn't see eyes on them, if they had any. It was like their head was a protrusion strictly for holding their mouths, filled with jagged teeth. Thick arms stuck out from the sides of their bodies. Two sets of arms.

They were snatching people up and they were… Sutton swallowed back bile.

"No thinking," she reminded herself. She lifted the gun as she leaned out over the edge of the roof and squinted one eye. "No thinking. Just doing."

But she had to be careful. She wasn't seasoned with guns, and she wasn't sure about her aim. There were a lot more people in the area now.

Luckily for her, the aliens were big.

There were a few people fleeing down the sidewalk right below her. Sutton tightened her grip on the gun and waited until they passed, then pulled down on the trigger right before the hideous alien was underneath her. She got lucky. The spray of bullets fell directly into the creature's head, and it let out an ear-piercing shriek as it stopped and convulsed. Sutton sprayed it with a bit more lead.

The thing let out another enraged shriek and attempted to climb up the building. Sutton pulled harder on the trigger as if that would help.

"Oh fudge!"

Brick crumbled as it climbed up one arm length, two. But it had already taken a decent amount of damage. Sutton let up on the trigger when she saw it freeze, convulse again, and then fall and land on the sidewalk with a sickening  _thud_.

She panted and let her lips briefly curl up in triumph. And then she looked back out over the streets and saw more. So many more. Hundreds. Her breath left her.

"Sutton! Oh, good gracious, there you are."  
She turned sharply at the voice, only to realize it was the Doctor halfway in turning. He was panting a bit himself as he straightened his bow tie.

"I can't- I can't get them all. There's too many."

The Doctor's face fell as he came to stand beside her. He looked down over the same chaotic streets and ran a hand through his floppy hair.

"I have to admit I feel particularly useless at the moment. I don't even know what those creatures are."

"That makes two of us," said Sutton.

Another creature galloped down the street and Sutton raised the gun again. She hit it a few times, and then lost her aim as it jerked out of the way. Her gun clicked and stopped firing. The creature screamed and twisted its head to face the building she was on and swiveled fully to move towards them. Sutton hissed, dropped the gun, and ducked down behind the ledge.

"You have any ideas," she asked.

"Run," said the Doctor.

He grabbed her arm and they dashed back over the rooftop and through the door into the building. Sutton made sure it slammed shut behind them, for all the good that would do.

There was a crash and ringing of vibrating metal behind them as they ran down the stairwell as fast as their legs could carry them. The Doctor had a considerably longer stride than her, and Sutton was struggling to keep up. Another angry animal-like yell echoed down the stairs, closer, and Sutton pushed passed the pain to hurry faster.

"There's more on the street," she cried as they stumbled through the office space and made for the front door. "We can't just run out there."

"We can't very well stay in here either."

They didn't have much of a choice. The door to the stairwell splintered and shattered as the creature burst through it and they flew through the exit.

The streets were rife with terror. Sutton could taste it on her own tongue as she accepted that she'd put herself here. Right in the middle of it all. But even as her stomach dropped out and her skin went cold, she couldn't fully regret it. If she'd even saved one person, it had to be worth it, right? And if she had bitten off more than she could chew, well, she'd rather become alien food than be the one to destroy the universes.

 _But this one,_ her mind urged.  _What about this one? What about everyone here?_

The Doctor tugged on her again as her left leg almost buckled and she stumbled. She looked up at him and her mind flashed back.

_Billions and billions and billions of people._

As much as it ripped what was left of her heart out, she had to think of the bigger picture.

It was like a stampede of people as they all ran away. Fleeing toward what they hoped was safety. The green, slick skinned aliens cut through people with ease. A legion of ground soldiers wiping out the weak. Sutton gagged again and blinked clear hot eyes.

Their saving grace was getting lost in the mass of people. And not being the slowest.

"There has to be something we can do." Sutton's voice was choked and cracking. "There has to be a way to help."

"We will," said the Doctor. "Right now you just have to help by not dying. Preferably not until you restore those pesky walls."

"Not funny!"

"Sorry."

Smoke rose up in the distance, where the team had been, and Sutton felt sharp stabs of fear as she wondered how they all were.

She  _believed_ they were fine. She  _believed_ they could win.

She needed to get the suit  _off._

They ran, going with the flow of the crowd of frantic people for a ways and let that momentum carry them. Sutton didn't know if the Doctor had a destination in mind, or if he was just trying to stall. He couldn't even complete the task he'd come to this universe for unless Thor managed to show up. But none of the Avengers had seen or heard from Thor in a long time. Not since that dinner when she'd first gotten back. She hoped he was even in Asgard to get the message in the first place.

There wasn't exactly any quiet spaces or empty roads, not that she could see, but they eventually veered off down a street not as crowded.

"I have to admit," said the Doctor, "that I haven't actually spent a lot of time in America. Your White House is somewhere around here, correct?"  
"The government isn't going to be helpful right now," she said. "They usually aren't anyway. They're probably busy evacuating the people with money."

"Well I don't know where we are."

Sutton ignored what he was saying next and stopped, snapping her head back to look through the windows of some battered cafe. A TV was still playing in the back of the shop, and she pulled her arm out of the Doctor's grasp.

"Wait. Look."

The Doctor followed her into the empty cafe and Sutton limped towards the television, eyes transfixed. It was the news, and they were obviously covering the current attack on D.C. Wide-eyed and concerned sounding reporters talking about the chaos she was currently experiencing. It all wasn't surprising.

Except they kept going back and showing footage from a place that most definitely wasn't D.C.

" _-tting reports that there are also attacks happening in parts of Africa and Asia. _On-the-scene footage and reports are displaying similar alien life forms. We fear we may be looking at a full scale global invasion._ "_

Sutton held onto the back of her neck and let out a shaky breath. Sweat beaded on her brow.

"I didn't know," she murmured. The Doctor stood behind her. "I didn't know there'd be so many. I told everyone- I only knew about  _Him_."

The Doctor put a hand on her shoulder.

"I've faced full scale invasions before and won," he said. "It's not impossible. Don't cut the human race so short."

Sutton tried to listen, reminded herself they weren't dead yet. There was still hope. But she couldn't help but feel dread. Terror making her cold. She shook her head and swallowed.

"I-I hope so," she said. "But, this isn't your world." She looked to the Doctor from the corner of her eye. "Rules are different here. I changed things. We weren't ready."


	19. Chapter 19

Sutton attempted to tear her eyes away from the continuing news story. They were flashing a map on the screen with dots showing where the attacks were happening. The Doctor turned back towards the door. 

“We shouldn’t stay here long,” he said. Sutton held up a hand as she continued to stare at the screen.

“Wait,” she said. “Something doesn’t seem right.”

The Doctor looked at her expectantly and Sutton tried to put her uneasiness into words. 

“Why,” she asked. “Why attack these places? And spaced so far apart?”  
“To take out populated areas would be my guess,” the Doctor said. Sutton nodded and waved a hand. 

“Right. Go for the powerful countries and destabilize them. But that’s not what He’s doing. Look. They’re not attacking any of the major capitals in Africa. And wouldn’t you go for China in Asia? But they’re not even there at all according to this.”

“Perhaps he isn’t totally aware of this planet’s ruling system?”

“He got D.C. down.” 

The Doctor looked back to the television, but they panned away from the map and went back to reporting more stories about the immediate attacks. 

“What was it,” he asked, “they said when they first arrived? They wanted you and-” 

“The Infinity Stones.” Sutton felt her skin turn to ice as she backed away from the television. “They-they must be looking for them. Here? How many all-powerful stones could end up on earth? One planet in- oh wait. _ Marvel universe.  _ Of course.”

“I always did wonder why Earth drew so much attention,” the Doctor mused. 

Sutton eyed the television one more time. Dots. That’s all these attacks were on the screen. Dots on a globe that would spread if given the chance. 

“We have to find them first.”

“Pardon?”   
She turned to the Doctor, her face resolute. 

“We have to find those stones first. If Th-if  _ He _ gets them before we do, our odds for 

coming out of all this on top drop dramatically. Like, to ridiculously low levels.” 

 

A crash from outside drew both of their attention away and Sutton watched as the windows in a building down the street exploded and flames shot out, leaping into the air and licking up the oxygen in a mad burst.   

“Things are already bad enough.”

 

They peered down the road, both ways, before darting out of the cafe and

hurrying down the sidewalk once more. The heavy scent of smoke and dirt was starting to thicken the sky. Dark flakes of ash drifted down on them in a way that reminded Sutton of Kronos. She swallowed, rolled her shoulders, and tried not to think about it. 

The odd, floating ring still hung in the sky. So far it didn’t look like it had done anything, or activated in any way, but the fact that it was there at all and continuously spinning, ready, was enough to have her on edge.

“If we’re assuming they were after me and a couple of stones,” Sutton said as they ran, “then I think we can assume that we don’t have to look for an Infinity Stone locally. We need a quinjet or something.” 

“Quinjet?”

“High tech jet. SHIELD issued. Or, at least, they were. Not sure what’s happened with SHIELD now.”

Another tremor rippled through the ground and Sutton staggered to a stop, watching as some of the buildings swayed and shook. She sucked in a sharp breath and felt the collar of her suit to make sure it was still sealed. It shouldn’t be doing that. Khan and the Doctor had already transitioned over to their universe. Sutton hadn’t done anything.  _ Couldn’t _ do anything! 

“The walls are still weakening,” the Doctor said. “Using my sonic screwdriver defensively probably didn’t help. The deterioration must be getting worse.”

She let out a breath and eyed the buildings again. Hopefully they would hold up. Hopefully Thor would arrive with the Tesseract in time. Hopefully he would come at all. 

Her thigh was still being racked with bolts of pain as she kept moving. It was hard to run in a steady, straight line. If they could get all this wrapped up in a day or two, then she could kick her feet up and actually let her injury heal.

_ A couple days _ , she told herself.  _ Just make it through the next couple of days. That’s doable. _

They followed the sounds of chaos down gridlike streets, cutting back and forth, always staying just on the outskirts of the violence. If she couldn’t help fight, not in a way that would make a difference, then she could try to secure an Infinity Stone. She could close up the tears in the universes and save them from whatever may happen to their own. 

She could save her mom and stepdad and Tyrese. Sutton grit her teeth. 

 

_ She would. _

 

“Do you know how to fly a plane,” she asked. They were heading back towards their starting point, in a roundabout way. She could tell by the increase in military vehicles and broken streets. What there was an alarming lack of was military personnel manning the equipment.  

“I know how to fly a TARDIS. Same basic principle, isn’t it?”  
“Yeah, no.”

The ground rumbled again. Sutton almost lost her balance, but braced against a glass window and caught herself. Maybe a couple streets down and they’d be at the original meeting point. If they were lucky, there might be a jeep or two still there. If Sutton could get one started, she should be able to drive back to the airport and, well, she’d work on that when they got to that part. Shifting her gaze from the sidewalk back to the Doctor, she lifted one side of her lips in a flat humor. 

“It’s really only the landing that’s important. I think-” 

 

There was a flickering, dark shape that darted out from behind the corner of a building. Sutton gasped and ducked instinctively, attempting to make herself small. 

“Watch-!“

The figure moved too quickly. A black limb kicked out and caught the Doctor in the chest, sending him flying back and across the street.

Sutton scrambled away as best she could with her leg and the sudden loud hum of her reactor picking up its pace. 

 

_ Khan! _ Again. 

 

He stood motionless and watched to see if the Doctor would move. His face was still red and raw looking, the skin peeling in places and bleeding from various cuts. The magnetic cuffs remained clamped over his wrists, but Sutton didn’t want to stay and test the limits of his mobility. He’d already made it this far. She pushed back with her heel and attempted to run across the street. 

“Doctor!”

 

It looked like his chest was still moving, but his eyes were wide and it looked like each lungful was a struggle. She could just see a faint, golden glow over his skin and ice sank in her stomach. 

 

“Doctor, hold on!”

“He’s none of your concern.” 

 

_ Don’t punch at the torso,  _ Nat’s voice rang out from her distant memories.  _ It won’t do much damage. Kicks are easy to block and leave you too vulnerable. If you have to, go for the throat or the eyes.  _

 

Sutton could feel the weight of his presence growing closer. A cold shot of fear raced down her spine again. There was no Steve or Tony this time. The Doctor wasn’t a fighter. There was only her. 

 

She swung a fist backwards as she felt fingers curl around her opposite arm. Khan attempted to move back, but with his hands pinched together and both restraining one of her arms, it did little. 

The edge of her fist slammed into the side of his throat, missing his Adam’s apple but hitting him in a patch of inflamed skin thanks to Clint’s exploding arrow. Khan let out a pained grunt and choked, but didn’t release her. Sutton opened her fist and raked her fingernails down over the skin instead. What wasn’t already weepy and bloody soon changed to match. 

“ _ Raah!” _

 

Khan yanked back on her arm. The move threw her off balance and her left leg buckled as she attempted to correct her footing to keep her balance. He dropped his looped arms over her head and dragged her back close to his chest. Sutton gasped and sputtered as the magnets pressed against her neck and pinned her against him. 

 

She kicked with her good leg and arched her back. That sterile blue room flashed in her vision. Her lungs burned with too little air. Never enough, but not deprived enough to lose consciousness, to die. 

“Does this feel familiar?” 

Khan spoke against her ear, his voice too smooth to match his haggard appearance. Sutton pulled against the magnets, her fingers digging under the metal. Shocks of pain ran up her fingers as her nails caught on edges and pulled. 

“We need him,” she managed to choke out. “Or your universe dies too.” 

 

Khan continued moving. Sutton tried to crane her neck to see the Doctor. See if he was still alive and himself, but she couldn’t catch even a glimpse around Khan. 

“I don’t need him. Only his ship.”

 

He carted her along down the street. Sutton thought he was putting them in a more dangerous situation than they would be individually. There were still alien beasts tearing up the city. If one ran into them, they’d both have no way to instantly defend themselves. Khan’s hands were pinned together and Sutton’s arms where being pressed against her sides. She tried to pry once more at the magnets, but had less success in loosening his hold than she had with getting the suit off. 

“You’re going to get us killed.” 

Her voice was raspy and tight. His arms were wrapped around her, restraining her, trapping her. She’d never wanted him to touch her, speak to her, again. Her reactor sped up its tempo to match her heightened emotions. 

“Silence.” 

 

_ Her reactor. _

 

If it sped up her heart rate too much, Jarvis notified Tony about it. But how high had it gone? Had he already received alerts, but was unable to come for her? How high could she even get it to go? 

It wasn’t exactly a conscious decision. 

 

All this time she’d been trying to remain calm. Trying to keep herself in check and not let herself succumb to the panic that wanted to raze up through her chest and claw out of her skin. Because despite all of her choices so far, she was terrified. A mantra of hope was being played in an unending loop in her head, but it didn’t negate the fear. And, perhaps, at this moment, the fear might actually help her. 

She kicked at his legs again, hissing as the muscle in her left thigh burned, and felt him tighten his hold. Just as she’d been expecting. It reminded her of before. Of all the moments she’d tried to forget. All the things she’d glossed over in her explanations to the team and never really shared. 

_ That dim blue room.  _

_ Broken beakers and test tubes, blood under her fingernails. _

_ Khan forcing her face into the floor as he injected her with another hypospray.  _

 

She let the memories come. It hurt. She’d been fighting and pushing them back for so long that it was more natural to deflect them. To think of something else. But if she wanted help, even the prospect of help, she had to do something drastic. 

_ The smell of antiseptic.  _

_ His rough fingers curling through her hair.  _

_ Biting her lip until it bled as he pushed her fingers back and back.  _

 

Sutton’s chest tightened to a painful degree. Her skin felt cold and the sky was dropping down on her. There wasn’t enough air in her lungs again, despite the fact that the magnets were no longer pressing against her throat. Her muscles were just too tight,  _ too tight. _

Khan made a scoffing noise as he noticed her gasping. His otherwise silence was a testimony to how much he valued her mental state. 

The streets weren’t completely empty, but they might as well have been for all the help it gave her. There was too much turmoil, too much panic, to pinpoint an individual struggle and decide to help. All the shapes were blurry anyway. Sutton could hardly see. She let out an angry scream as she twisted in his hold. A muffled voice in the back of her head wondered if she’d gone too far. Let too many memories pass.

“Let  _ go _ of me! Let go!”    
  


The sky exploded in front of them and a beam of light shot down in a blast of heat and sparking colors. Khan staggered backwards, surprised, and Sutton let out another shriek. 

_ “Don’t follow! It’s a trap!’ _

The light flared and then dissipated, though Sutton was still left seeing spots as she blinked. She sucked in another lungful of air and coughed. The searing light had burned out some of the confusion muddling her mind, and she tried to slow her breathing, convinced that if her heart rate hadn’t already skyrocketed, it wasn’t going to. Khan panted behind her. His legs were spread out wide and he was crouched down slightly with his eyes locked in front of him. Sutton shook her head and looked. 

Thor stood in the middle of the road. A Norse rune was burned into the street with him at its center. He was decked out in his typical armor and cape with both his hands occupied. One held Mjolnir and the other, a glowing blue cube. 

_ The Tesseract!  _

 

Sutton lurched forwards in Khan’s hold, an excited smile blooming on her face. 

 

“Thor!” Thor grinned back at her then cut his eyes up to Khan. 

“Sutton, good to see you again! Are you being assisted, or do you require it?”  
“Require! _Require!_ ”

Khan growled in the back of his throat and dropped Sutton, pushing her back behind him with his foot as he readied his stance for an attack. Thor frowned and spun Mjolnir in his grasp. 

“I don’t like it when people kick my friends.”

“Your opinion on the matter is irrelevant.” 

Sutton wheezed another breath and scooted away from Khan and back towards the sidewalk. There was more crashing in the distance. Glass shattering. How hadn’t she heard it before? A moan reverberated through the city streets as if some steel beast was struggling under a heavy load. 

“You must be new here,” Thor said. “I am Thor. The strongest Avenger.” 

Even through her panting and sweating, Sutton tilted her head in uncertainty.

“ _ Eh _ ; Hulk,” she said.

Thor actively ignored her comment. He twisted his wrist as he readied his hammer and gave Khan a tight, false smile. 

“Leave now and no further harm shall befall you.” 

“ _ You _ surrender, and I will not have to destroy you.” Thor laughed openly. 

“Very well.” 

 

Sutton scrambled further over onto the sidewalk and out of direct line of action. Khan charged forward and Thor remained stationary, swinging his hammer at his side and waiting. 

_ The Doctor,  _ Sutton thought. She had to get back to the Doctor! Now that Thor had shown up, with the Tesseract, they had to act quickly! Get the universal walls stable and all closed up. She scrambled to her feet and leaned against a light post as the world rocked. There was a spell of dizziness as she righted herself. 

She couldn’t let herself get that panicked again. 

 

Khan was stupid to challenge Thor, but he wasn’t idiotic. He clearly knew that Thor meant to use the hammer at his side as a weapon. 

He spun and raised up his arms, magnet at the forefront, as he attacked. 

He just had no basis for understanding how powerful Mjolnir truly was. 

 

Thor swung to meet him. Mjolnir cracked against the magnets around Khan’s wrists and obliterated them. But it also sent Khan careening back, lightning crackling through his body, and through a glass window in a storefront. Thor grunted and dropped his arm down. 

“Well that was disappointing.” 

Sutton hurried forward, emboldened by Khan’s absence. 

“Thor, we have to go back and get-”

 

There was a loud, rushing whine at her back. Sutton almost swallowed her own tongue as she was yanked upwards and shot into the air. Cold metal plates were clamped around her arms as the road, and Thor, grew smaller. She jerked in surprise and desperation for something to cling to, but she was pretty well stuck. Sutton looked up. A gold and red chest plate was above her, with a familiar glowing arc reactor. 

“Tony,” she said in surprise. “You almost gave me a heart attack!” 

“You  _ did _ give me one,” he snapped. “Do I even want to know what happened?” 

Sutton twisted her arms up, gripping his forearms just to reassure herself, and curled her legs up underneath her. The ground was so far below now. A  _ fwipping _ sort of sound rose above the wind and she glanced over to see Thor flying next to them. Looking back up to Tony, she attempted to jostle his arms to get his attention.

“We have to go back! The Doctor, he got hurt!” 

“I didn’t see him,” Tony said. 

“The glowing man,” asked Thor. She let out a distressed sound and eyed the Tesseract still in Thor’s grip. 

“They’re already looking for other Infinity Stones. We have to get the universes stable and that back out of here before they figure out we have it. And we  _ can’t  _ just  _ leave  _ the Doctor!” 

 

She heard Tony groan as he banked to the left and turned around. The wind was cold as it blew her hair in a mass around her face. Sutton spat out curls as she tried to shake her head to clear her line of sight. 

“Glad to see you could finally join us, by the way,” Tony said to Thor. “It might’ve been nice to have you, like, half an hour ago.” 

“I was busy,” Thor defended. “Heimdall had to pull me away from my search to deliver your message.” 

Sutton wasn’t in the mindset to ask just what he’d been searching for. At the moment they  _ had _ to find the Doctor and stop the current invasion before it grew even more. 

Tony flew back over near the street he’d plucked her from and Sutton felt her heart freefall. 

“Where is he? Where’d he go?”   
“I can only keep tabs on so many people, Small Fry.”   
The street was empty of any sign of the Doctor. No lanky build, no glowing aura, and no crooked bow tie in sight. 

“Hold on,” said Tony. He shifted her up higher and turned her so that she could clasp her 

hands around his neck. Sutton wrapped her legs around his waist for the extra stability and security as Tony, with his hands now free, dropped down and angled to get a better view of where the Doctor might’ve gone. 

Theoretically, he shouldn’t have been able to get far. He’d been kicked square in the chest, probably over his hearts, by a genetically engineered super soldier. A ruthless one that didn’t care about breaking bone. 

“Perhaps he’s taken shelter,” Thor suggested. Sutton twisted her head to see where Tony was going. She prayed that the Doctor hadn’t regenerated. She didn’t know what he looked like after Eleven. And it’d mess up his entire timeline, if he was still mentioning Amy and Rory.  

Perhaps he had taken shelter. Maybe he was trying to get back to their starting point.

Sutton hoped for the best. He was the Doctor. He was resourceful and smart. And more than that, they  _ needed  _ him to be alright. 

“Sorry, Small Fry, but the team needs me. I don’t have time for a search and rescue op.” 

She blew some air out of her nose as she once more worked to keep her cool and nodded. Tony was right. The team needed all the help they could get. 

“Ok,” she said. “Just drop me off by a jeep or something.” 

“A jeep?”  
“So I can drive around looking for him and then-” Sutton cut herself off, realizing that Tony might not like the second part of her plan.

“And then?”  
“Thor! You want to help me, right?”  
“It’s why I’m here.”

Sutton flashed a smile at Tony’s mask despite the fact that she couldn’t see whatever expression he was currently making. 

“You all just focus on staying alive, ok?” 

 

A shrill screaming rose up and broke away from the sound of general mayhem. Sutton was amazed and horrified that they were even able to hear it at the speeds they were traveling. Tony and Thor both hit the breaks and reversed, heading towards where the scream emanated from. There was another gang of alien warriors tearing through a section of street. Tony swore under his breath as he spotted the creatures. 

He shot down quickly and Sutton let go of him as he neared the ground, slowing slightly so that she wouldn’t be sent tumbling down the sidewalk. It still jarred her leg, but Sutton bit back any complaints. She wasn’t the one being almost torn to pieces at the moment. Thor landed next to her, remaining light on his feet as he leveled her with an even gaze. 

“Do not lose this,” he said.

He passed the Tesseract into her hands and her own fingers immediately shook as they clamped around the smooth sides of the cube. The blue light reflected off her skin, casting odd shadows even in daylight and almost humming under her fingertips. Sutton licked her lips and swallowed. 

“I won’t.”

 

Thor leaped away to assist Tony and she was left standing alone. Her eyes were glued to the Tesseract, however. She’d seen it in the movie, sure, and she knew about it, but she’d never actually seen it in person. It wasn’t just a glowing box, not just a prop. There was substance to it in a way that there weren’t words for. An aura. It wasn’t a living being, not like she was, but it certainly wasn’t just a gemstone. No one in the movies had mentioned that they felt like they could reach out to  _ anywhere _ when they held it. 

Sutton bit the inside of her lip. This was all with her suit still dampening her ability. The stone was affecting her even when she was supposed to be fairly well masked from this universe. 

She cradled the Tesseract against her chest and made herself look away. The streets

weren’t safe. She had to keep a level head and stay alert.  

 

Tony and Thor were putting a larger dent in the invading army than she’d been able to. Thor took out at least ten in a couple blows, but it was a losing battle nonetheless. There were still more, so many, and Proxima and Corvus were still fighting as well. As far as Sutton knew, at least. 

All of her previous movie logic told her that if they could get those main henchmen out of the way, the rest of these things would be easier to mow down. Of course, her movie logic also dictated a few things about the main villain, but she tried not to dwell on that. 

_ This wasn’t a movie. Hadn’t been for a long time. _

 

Her gaze darted around to make sure that Tony and Thor were holding their own and doing alright before dropping down to the ground. There was litter scattered all over. Shoes and bags and trash. Broken glass from windows was sprinkled like dangerous, sparkling glitter. A leather tote had been dropped in someone’s haste and Sutton pursed her lips before darting to it. She sent up a quick apology and hoped whoever owned the bag was alright before she dumped out all its contents and shoved the Tesseract inside. After that she slung the strap over one shoulder and across her chest and gave it a testing tug. 

Hands free. She needed her hands free. 

 

Sutton limped down the sidewalk and searched through the crowds of people running passed. The Doctor was tall and odd and flailing at times. He should have stood out. But once more she saw no sign of him. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she called out. 

“Doctor? Doctor!”    
But her shouts were swallowed up before they broke through the crowd. How? How could they have lost him in the minute or two they’d been gone? Her stomach rolled as she dared another glance at the alien creatures currently fighting her friends. 

She hadn’t noticed any blood in the area he’d last been.

 

He was fine. He was fine,  _ he was fine. _

 

Sutton took another steadying breath and continued to push through the throngs of people in her search. 

They were all going to be fine.

  
  
  



	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHH! Ok. Ok listen. This chapter is a bit different than my usual. So... just be warned, ok?
> 
> Please read the author's note at the end of the chapter!

People were still swarming; a churning mass that Sutton forced herself through with lessening care with each shove. Her eyes frantically searched the crowds still trying to spy the Doctor in the midst of all the faces. For once her small stature came in handy for sliding around people and squeezing through small openings. 

The whole search seemed pointless. They’d been separated in a city teaming with confusion and panic and she didn’t even know if the Doctor was actually alright. She shifted to the sidewalk, trying to think like he might, or at least behave how he’d behaved earlier, and pulled as far from the crowds as she could. Hugging the buildings she continued on, glancing inside of store fronts as she went to see if he’d taken shelter inside somewhere. 

Her foot pressed against something soft instead of crunching glass and she instinctively pulled back sharply as she looked down. 

A bowtie. 

 

She bent down and snatched it up with a gasp, cradling the scrap of fabric near her chest as she scanned the crowd more fervently. 

“Doctor!” 

He wasn’t in the building next to her, or anywhere down the sidewalk. Sutton shoved the

bowtie into the tote and moved with even more purpose. 

And then the tide shifted. 

She’d been going with the flow, following the crowd down the street and away from where Tony and Thor were finishing off a few more of the rancid beasts. But people were turning and running back the way they’d come, fear still painted on their faces as they pushed and shoved any in their way. Sutton was caught in the rush of people despite her attempts to stay out of the bustle. Her size was turned against her as the mass of bodies pressed and dragged her along with them. 

She choked and nearly stumbled as someone elbowed her in the side, but caught herself before she actually fell. 

_ If she fell now, she’d be trampled _ . 

 

Another rumble shook the city and people screamed. 

 

_ She needed to go the other way. _

 

Sutton bit her tongue and turned to fight against the crowd. People were crying as they ran, some with bloodied faces and some even worse than that. She felt her eyes grow hot, but she didn’t have time to focus on them. There was a bigger picture she had to think about. Universes that needed her to act.

The fight was coming to them. That’s why the people had turned and started running the other way. Corvus and Proxima were carving out a path in the skyscrapers with the other Avengers on their tail. Tony and Thor wouldn’t be able to hear her if she tried to shout back a warning, so she grit her teeth and continued on. She kept part of her attention on the incoming threats, feeling her throat tighten as they obviously searched the crowds. 

They were bored of fighting, it seemed. That wasn’t good.

 

Sutton made it back over to the sidewalk, slowing at an intersection where the street widened out and the crowds thinned slightly. She held the strap of the tote in a clenched fist and climbed up the base of a street light in an attempt to get a better view. Corvus and Proxima were drawing closer, razing through clusters of people just for the fun of it. Sutton wrapped her arm around the pole and turned away, searched the mass. 

There! 

 

Across the street was a lean figure. She’d recognize his moppy hair anywhere. The Doctor looked like he was taking deep breaths, as if he were recovering, and he rubbed at his chest as he staggered down the sidewalk. 

“Doctor! Over here!” 

 

He couldn’t hear her over the noise and distance. Sutton moved to climb off the pole as the screams grew and the attacks rained down. There was the sound of more shattering glass and whining, bending metal. Cars turned end over end as they were tossed from the road. Sutton gasped and held on to remain steady. Checked to make sure she could still see the Doctor. 

A shrill cry rose up from close by, high and wailing. 

 

_ “Mommy! Mommy, mommy!”  _

 

Sutton’s attention shot downwards to the street. A little girl, probably five at most, stood a few yards away and looked to be in hysterics. Her shoulders dropped as her gaze darted back and forth from the child, to the Doctor, and then over to the incoming threat. 

_ Cliché.  _

 

There was always a screaming kid wasn’t there? She didn’t have time! Billions and billions of lives versus the one. But that was one life she could see. One life she could actively do something about. 

Sutton shot away from the stop light, ignoring her leg, and ran for the child. Shoving the tote against her back, she scooped up the little girl as blinding light flashed from across the street and the road cracked. Sutton cradled the back of the girl’s head and attempted to hush her as she kept moving. There were more people coming their way now. Not as many as there should have been though. Sutton swallowed and pushed on. 

“Doctor! Doctor!  _ For pete’s sake! _ ” 

The Doctor finally looked in her direction and Sutton let out a relieved breath, her face creasing as she directed his attention to where she was. The little girl in her arms continued to scream in her ear. 

“Sutton?”

She pointed to where the fighting was growing closer and waved her hand. 

“We have to get out of here! I have the-”

 

There were more startled shrieks. A shadow flickered over their heads and Sutton crouched again as her breath left her. A fleshy, grim reaper-like face flew by with intent, zipping over the crowds and making a beeline for- 

 

“Look out!”    
Corvus dipped down and plucked the Doctor off the road, dragging him up into the air and turning away from the fighting. Sutton yelled and the little girl pressed herself tighter against Sutton’s suit, yelling with her. 

Her arc reactor was humming loudly. Sutton blinked at the spot in the sky that was fading out of view.

Oh no _. Oh no, no, no. _

 

Her breaths were shallow as she was spurred into motion. If she’d moved faster. Climbed up on that post sooner. Not grabbed the girl. Still, she held the kid close, her grip firm as she absently rubbed the back of the little girl’s head. 

“Help! Someone help; she’s lost! I can’t-” 

The little girl wasn’t safe with her. She had to go after the Doctor. Rescue him. Get him back. A few people glanced her way and kept moving. Sutton looked desperately from face to face, trying to find someone who looked moderately trustworthy to take the kid. 

“I have to help, please.”    
  


Sutton pushed away a guy in a trench coat and shifted as an older couple ran up to her. They looked to be in their sixties and the woman’s eyes were wide as she panted. She glanced over Sutton’s suit and lingered over her arc reactor.

“You’re with the Avengers?” Sutton nodded rapidly. 

“Yes! Please, please can you take her. I have to go. I can’t take-”

“Of course, of course.” 

 

The woman held out her arms and Sutton peeled the little girl away from her chest. 

“It’s ok. You’re gonna be alright. This nice lady is going to help you better than I can.” 

The little girl shrieked again but switched over into the woman’s arms.

“Thank you.” 

She didn’t know any of their names. Didn’t have time to ask, but Sutton was still in a subdued awe over their willingness to help. The woman nodded and reached out a hand before Sutton could run off. 

“Thank  _ you _ ,” the woman said. Her face was serious and eyes worried, but she lifted her lips slightly in a meager encouragement. “We believe in all of you.” 

 

Sutton let out a choked huff and nodded again. She didn’t have the words for a real response. The woman seemed to understand. The couple and the child disappeared in the crowd and Sutton dashed in the opposite direction; after Corvus and the Doctor. 

 

Towards the ring.

 

The ring that was still ominously floating above the city. 

 

Sutton ignored the pain in her leg and ran, stretching out her limbs as far as she could make them go as she attempted to catch up. 

Another burst of light flashed behind her and Sutton shielded her eyes, swallowed the lump in her throat, and kept going. 

She didn’t think she’d ever run so much in her life. At least not with this much desperation. If the Doctor couldn’t use his sonic screwdriver he was at a disadvantage. He needed her help. She  _ needed _ to help him. 

But Corvus could cut through the air faster than she could run on the ground. And the ring was hovering over the tops of the taller buildings. She’d never be able to reach him. 

Sutton gripped the tote and shifted it back over to her side, her fingers curling over the edges of the Tesseract, dulled by soft leather. If only she could get the suit off. The Tesseract was the Space Stone. It could go anywhere. She’d be able to reach him. 

 

But should she really reveal her cards so easily? It was bad that they had the Doctor. It’d be worse if they got an Infinity Stone. She forced herself to loosen her grip and ignored her impulses. So far she’d only been managing to make things more difficult. 

 

She was gasping for air and dragging her leg when she finally reached the cluster of buildings below the ring. Corvus had already flown up to it and perhaps the Doctor had stalled him with encouraging a brief monologue, because the ring didn’t look like it had become more active. 

“So, what was your plan from here?”    
  


Sutton spun around only to be met with the side Natasha’s worried face. She was staring up at the ring alongside her, her stance ready and her breathing moderately quick as if she’d been running as well.

“I ran out of plans a long time ago. I’ve just been winging this.” 

Nat had a bloody lip and a cut eyebrow when she looked at Sutton directly and Sutton frowned, pressing her teeth together. 

Nat had worse injuries before, she was sure.  _ She still didn’t like it. _

 

“They still believe he’s you,” Nat confirmed. Sutton nodded. They both focused back on the ring. “So does that mean that thing has something to do with portals?”

“That’s what I’m terrified of.” 

Nat rolled her shoulders and tilted her head. 

“Guess we better go get him.” She gave Sutton a smile, but it was tight at the corners. Sutton had been around long enough to know when someone was trying to be optimistic for another’s benefit. 

“You doing ok?” 

Nat smirked. 

“Please. This has all been a nice warm up.” 

Sutton snorted. 

“Sure.”

 

They dashed into one of the closer buildings. It wasn’t the tallest, but it was a few floors up and Nat said that even the tallest buildings wouldn’t get them close enough to actually do much. But they could signal for one of the flying members of the team to come pick them up. 

The most bursting out onto the roof did was give them a slightly closer view as to what might be happening. Sutton scoured the surface of the ring to try and find any humanoid shapes. Nat tapped her on the shoulder and pointed.

“There. Bottom left.” 

 

Sure enough, Sutton could make out two blurry shapes. Her chest tightened even more as she shifted her stance. Nat put a finger to the earpiece she was wearing and called in. 

“Hey. We’re going to need some back up. Skeletor has the Doctor and they’re up on the ring.” She paused a moment, then nodded. “Copy that.”

“They’re moving.” Sutton’s voice was strained. “He’s doing something!” 

 

The shadowy figures were moving. Sutton only knew which one the Doctor was because one shape was struggling more fiercely. She bit down on her tongue and clenched her fists. 

 

There was a loud whirring that reverberated through the air. A static electricity cracked down from the sky and the ring sped up its spinning. The orange flashes of light from its crevices flared up and the air inside the circle turned hazy. 

Sutton lurched forwards and Nat grabbed her arm. 

“There’s nothing you can do from here. The team is coming.”

“What if he’s hurting him?”

 

With one last shift of darkness, it appeared as though Corvus has secured the Doctor somehow because the movement stopped. 

The ring spun faster and something like lightning split the inside. Whirring turned to an ear piercing screech like metal sliding against metal. 

“They’re going to kill him,” Sutton yelled. “He’s not the one!”

 

They couldn’t lose him. She couldn’t be the one to let that happen. The Doctor was too important, too kind, he’d  _ forgiven _ her. He was just here to help. 

 

Sutton arched her back and cupped her hands around her mouth to shout as loud as she could. 

“It’s me! I’m the Door! You’ve got the wrong person!”

 

Nat pulled on her arm and shot her a glare. 

“Sutton, stop. He knew what he was getting into.”

“No he didn’t,” Sutton snapped. “How could he know anything? I’m not going to let him die.”

“You have a responsibility.” Nat’s tone was sharp. She forced Sutton to look at her and glanced purposefully at the tote on her side. 

“Thor’s here and he didn’t have  _ it _ with him, so that means you do. You can’t just hand that thing to them.”

 

Sutton attempted to slide the tote off her shoulder but Nat held it in place. 

“The team is coming,” she said. 

 

There was a yell, muffled by distance and coming from above them. Sutton flinched. 

“They won’t make it in time. It’s me,” she yelled again, despite Nat’s warning. “You’ve got the wrong person!”   
The shrieking from the ring reached an octave that felt like it could be heard throughout the city. Sutton threw her hands over her ears and looked away as more light flashed in the ring’s center. 

Repulsor fire and missiles cut through the sky. They hit the ring and more electricity crackled angrily. The sky flashed purple, pink, yellow. Sutton swore she saw a fracture. There was a faint throbbing through her head, even with the suit on. 

The members of the team who could get off the ground were attacking Corvus. Sutton gripped the tote because she wasn’t about to wring Nat’s arm to death. Nat squeezed her shoulder. 

“I better go. You should get out of here.” 

“Huh?”    
Sutton turned and Nat gestured down at the street with a nod. The others had commandeered various vehicles to keep up and Proxima was not far behind, ready to defend her partner. 

“Right.” She grabbed Nat’s arm as the woman moved to leave the roof. “Please, just,  _ try _ to be safe.” Nat smiled. 

“Only if you do.”

“That’s blatant manipulation.” 

Nat winked and ran off; Sutton watched her go. Her stomach continued to curdle as she looked back to the sky. The ring was still on the fritz, sparking and hissing and shrieking as it was barraged with hits from the Avengers. She had a sinking suspicion about the thing. That perhaps it forced portal openings, or opened doors up larger than she could on her own. But whatever it was really attempting to do, it was still giving her a growing headache. That alone made her afraid of it. 

Rhodey, she knew it was him from the glinting silver, flew up and struck the machine in just the right spot. A silhouette fell through the sky and Rhodey dropped with it, catching it before it’d even made it halfway to the ground. Colors exploded in the clouds again and the earth shook with it. The building beneath her feet rocked and swayed, groaning with every pass. She widened her stance in an attempt to stay upright and her breath caught as the road rippled. 

They had the Doctor. They had him. She could get him back to the TARDIS and stop the sky from collapsing, at least. 

She had to do her part. 

 

The air near the ring turned dark and Sutton felt another rush of fear. She couldn’t move as she watched the patch of sky turn black and shift. 

Thanos emerged. 

 

Her vision went hazy as she struggled to breathe. She couldn’t feel her fingers. 

He dropped down onto of the nearby rooftops and the fighting momentarily halted in surprise. He was big, bigger than any human, and thick and blocky in a way that reminded her of Hulk. She could practically hear the screams of the alien beings he’d forced her to see, could feel her chest compress at the thought of a shattering moon. 

Of course he’d been around. Of course his henchmen were attacking. But now she could  _ see  _ him. He was real. 

 

Corvus and Proxima both flew over towards him and bowed low. Thanos’ hand shot out and snagged Corvus, dragging him close. Despite the distance, Sutton could hear him speak. Could hear his deep, resounding voice. 

“You brought me the wrong person. I ask so very little of you.” 

Corvus answered, though Sutton couldn’t hear him. He appeared to be grovelling a little and Proxima joined in to defend their cause or to reassure they wouldn’t mess up again. 

“Find them,” Thanos said. “And hope that the amplifier still works.”   
  


And with that statement the fighting swung back into full force.

 

They at least knew exactly who he was. The team knew not to ask questions, attempt to negotiate, or pull punches. 

Fire rained down on Thanos from above as Tony and Rhodey swooped by. Sutton watched without moving, her eyes glued to the action. Sam attempted to take on Corvus and arrows flew between them all from some distance away. 

There were cuts in the leather from where Sutton was gripping the tote so tightly. 

 

Another rocking tremble shook the earth and a fissure split in the sky. Sutton… Sutton saw her home. For just a brief moment. Not her rental house that the Avengers had taken over, but the house she’d played hide-and-seek in with Tyrese. The house that Howard cooked her birthday dinner in and where her mother would sing as she did dishes.

 

Sutton blinked and noticed just how drastically the building was swaying. Her stomach leapt up as she forced her legs to start moving.    

Was it safer on the ground? Under rocking skyscrapers and collapsing roads? She wasn’t sure. But it was just as dangerous above the ground.

Purple shifted in her view and she froze again, looking. Thanos was facing her direction. She felt heady and light with the rush of sickening anticipation mingling with a sticky, growing malice in her gut. Did he see her? She could almost feel the hum of the Tesseract again despite the fabric between them. 

Did it call to him like the Ring to Sauron?   

 

Sutton backed away from the edge of the rooftop, unable to look away. Unable to 

quench the fear that he was looking right at her. Somehow knew.

_ Almost over, almost over...almost _ . He was the final boss. The last big obstacle. They’d already had the close call to start. The plot twist with the Winter Soldier. All they had to do was beat him and they’d be in the home stretch. 

 

Maybe she’d only have to last a few more hours instead of days. 

 

Finally she turned her head and dashed through the door and down the stairs. The tote batted against her leg and the walls around her quivered; the vibrations sent out a hum, a groaning, unlike anything Sutton had ever heard. She could  _ feel  _ it as it sank into her chest. It was a chorus of eerie moans that sang through the streets. 

This was worse than New York, she realized. While she hadn’t been paying attention it’d grown from a few torn up roads to unrecognizable streets and crumbling buildings. A lot more red painted the pavement.

 

She shuffled back down on the sidewalk, torn with what decision to make on where to go. It was starting to grow late in the afternoon now and there were no signs of the fighting ceasing. It was hard to tell who had the upper hand from the ground. If anyone did. 

And she knew better than to run  _ towards  _ Thanos when she carried the Tesseract at her

side. Natasha was right about that. He couldn’t get his hands on it. Yet she still needed to snag the Doctor if she could. Wherever Rhodey may have put him down. She hoped that he was well enough to try and make his way to her on his own.

 

For the moment, she made a decision and headed away from the fight. It’s what Nat had told her to do, what  _ Steve  _ had told her to do earlier, and she was sure it would be echoed by every other person on the team. For once, she’d listen to them. 

Even attempting to flee wasn’t an easy task. It took effort to climb over upturned cars and duck under fallen street lights. It  _ looked _ like war. It looked like those terrible black and white photos that were in history books. The ones you try to forget about once you turn the page. Thank your lucky stars you weren’t alive to remember them. 

She had to- had to step over people and she felt sick. 

 

Sutton was so focused on moving and  _ not _ thinking, that she almost missed the rush of displaced air that gusted over her head. A few curls hit her face, however, and she dropped. The concrete bit at her knees before she scrambled back up to her feet and shot forward. 

Corvus banked and headed back in her direction. His eyes were locked on her and he smiled with jagged teeth.

“Such a pretty outfit,” he cooed from above. “I’m starting to believe it isn’t standard earth-wear.”

Sutton bit back a response and tried to run, her sneakers scraping against the pavement

and catching on loose debris as she pushed herself. Corvus swung his blade and brick exploded around her, chalk and dirt partially blinding her. She let out a yell and shielded her eyes.

“Perhaps you’re attempting to hide something.” 

Sutton grit her teeth. 

“I wish you’d hide your ugly face.”

“Most likely you won’t live to see it long. Though hopefully you fare better than your friend.” 

“How much of a friend could she be? To let him take the fall for her?” 

 

A blurry blue shape bloomed in her vision and Sutton continued to move away as she rubbed at her eyes. Her heart rate was all wonky. The reactor was refusing to beat over a certain pace and it was leaving her feeling jittery and unbalanced. 

The bag. She had to throw the bag. Hopefully they wouldn’t pay attention to it and the Tesseract would be safe. But she knew with a sinking dread in her gut that she couldn’t outrun them. Couldn’t fight them.

“You had better be the right one this time.” Proxima’s voice growled.

A flare of repulsor fire flashed and cut between her and the two villains effectively separating them for at least a moment. Some of the dread lifted as Tony briefly landed in front of her. 

“Maybe the right one, but not for you; sorry. She’s already in a budding romance. There’s a betting pool and everything. I’m afraid you’ll have to go back to eHarmony.” 

“ _ Tony _ .”

“Right.”

 

Corvus and Proxima recovered quickly and Tony turned to snatch Sutton up again as he shot away. Sutton wrapped one arm around his neck and clutched the top of the bag with the other. 

“I keep wanting to complain that you basically chipped me, and  _ yet _ .”

“Everyone’s always huffy about it until they suddenly need a ride.”

_ “Thank you _ .” 

 

They still weren’t out of the woods. Tony had broken off on his own to come get her and now it was two against one as they raced above the broken city streets. Sutton gripped onto Tony’s armor as much as she could as he dodged and dove. Proxima raised her spear and a shout was on the tip of Sutton’s tongue as Corvus raised a hand. 

“He’ll flay us if she dies.”

“She tricked us. Made us look like fools.  _ Let me cripple them _ .” 

 

Proxima ignored her partner and threw out her hand. At the movement Corvus hissed and kicked her in the side. The action sent the hot beam flying just to the side of them. The light struck a tall building in the distance and glass exploded and metal screamed. Corvus still took the opportunity to swing at them, the blow clipped Tony. One of his repulsors was hit and shattered, and Sutton clung on as they went spiraling through the air. Tony cursed and Sutton yelled as they twisted end over end and went crashing into the very building that Proxima had blown the first few floors out of. 

 

There were clangs and ripping noises as they tore through the rubble. Sutton’s fingers slipped over Tony’s slick suit and she lost her grip. He tried to keep a hold of her, but he was also desperately trying to stabilize his flight. She felt herself lift up and pull away as she continued flying back. With one last cry she fully separated from him and felt herself fall. 

Sutton curled into a tight ball as she tumbled and fell into various obstacles. She covered her head as well as she could. Her side scraped against the floor and the coarse texture finally brought her to a sliding stop. 

 

Her vision was black. She wasn’t quite sure where she was and wasn’t even sure if she were up or down. Sutton blinked and wheezed, laying in a daze and trying to process what incoming information she could. 

There was a screeching sort of sound all around her and a stifling residual heat. She managed roll over onto her knees, but the pain that shot up her left leg now was blinding. A groan shook her bones, but it wasn’t from her throat. When she looked up the world was tipping, tipping, tipping. Why was it tipping when she wasn’t moving?

More frantic noises erupted from outside but Sutton was too dizzy to identify them. There was one closer that caught her attention. 

_ “Sutton! Sutton!” _

 

She pushed herself to her feet and staggered before maintaining her balance. It’d finally sank in that she was in a building. Or it was supposed to be. But the ground was shuddering and there were exposed posts and scorch marks searing the inside so much that it looked more like the inside of a crushed car rather than something people used to work in. 

There was dust covering the inside of her mouth and it was painful to swallow, but she managed to clear her throat enough to answer. 

“I’m ok! Tony!” 

A light shone through the haze and Sutton knew it was him. 

“This building is coming down,” Tony shouted back. “Get over here!” 

 

Screaming. That’s what the sound from outside was. Sutton wheezed and coughed as the building around them crumbled and shook. The screams from outside were drown out by the sounds of shattering glass and snapping metal beams. She climbed over more debris and tried to see through the rising ash and smoke. Scrambling quickly, Sutton tried to hurry. Even though her leg hadn’t come close to completely healing, even though it ached to move and hurt to breathe. She had to reach him.

A huge metal beam fell, crashing through weaker supports and tearing through levels of the floor. The entire building swayed far to one side, a ear-splitting shriek ringing through the air. 

Sutton pushed off a loose slab of uprooted concrete and threw herself at Tony as floor disappeared behind her. He caught her as she crashed into him. He’d removed his helmet and it was the only thing that kept her from slamming a knot into her forehead. The walls around them started to wrinkle under the weight of the building. 

“We’re not going to make it!” She could barely recognize her own voice. Her lungs felt frozen and her head spun. Tony was the only solid thing. Her fingers dug into the metal pieces of his suit as her eyes roved for an exit. 

This couldn’t be it. This couldn’t be the end!    
  


More of the building crumbled over them. It was dark. So dark. Sutton couldn’t see anything. 

“The window.” 

_ “We’re not going to make it.”  _   
  
   Her voice was choked at the revelation. They were too far back. The building was coming down too fast and they’d be smashed to bits before they could crash through what glass there still was. Tony grabbed her hands and wrapped them around his forearm. 

“Hold on tight. Don’t let go, alright Small Fry?”   
Sutton nodded. She gripped his arm tightly and squeezed her eyes shut. He pressed a kiss to her temple and her breath hitched. 

“Tell Pepper I love her.”

Sutton’s eyes snapped open. 

“What?” 

Her body lurched wildly, almost out of control, as her legs dangled before she curled them up underneath her. 

Tony. She could see Tony. She was holding onto one of his suit’s arms, but he was back in the building. Holding up a support beam with a pained grimace as she flew out from underneath the bulk of the structure. 

Her entire body seized in a terror she’d yet to experience. Her mind went blank, unwilling to believe or understand what she was seeing. He made eye contact with her briefly and managed a pained grimace.

And then her body was hitting the pavement. Rolling end over end until she released her hold on the suit piece and threw herself to her knees. Her eyes desperately scanned for Tony’s following figure.

The building gave one last shuddering groan. And then it collapsed. 

 

The world stopped spinning. High pitched ringing drowned out all other noise. 

 

A pressure built up in her chest. A painful, horrified ball of panic that pressed against her skin. 

“Tony.”    
  


He had to fly out. Any second now. He’d escape and be fine and she’d feel silly for worrying so badly. 

_ “Tony!”  _   
  


The only things to move were more chunks of the building. Piling higher and higher. More and more tons of weight. 

“No.  _ No! _ ” 

The words tore out of her throat like razors. She bolted to her feet. There wasn’t even any pain as she ran, only a wild, tearing fear. She had to find him. She had to help! A block of concrete as tall as she was blocked the path to where she’d last seen him, and she threw her arms around the rock. Fought to lift it. But it wouldn’t budge. She pulled harder, her teeth grinding together as sobs clawed at her chest. 

Arms wrapped around her waist and dragged her back. Sutton fought blindly. 

“No. No! TONY. Let me go!”  
“Sutton, stop.”   
  


It was Steve. His voice. But she didn’t care. She pushed at his arms, leaned forward out of his hold as much as she was able. 

“Let go of me, Steve. I swear! Let go; don’t _ touch _ me!” His body tensed around her but he didn’t let go. “No.” She sobbed. “No, no, no, no. Tony!”

 

Steve cursed in a shocked understanding, his voice cracking as she struggled against him.   
“I’m so sorry,” Steve whispered in her ear. “Sutton, I’m-” 

“He’s ok. He’s ok. He’ll be- He will!”

She clawed at the neck of her suit. It clung to her like a sticky second skin, seeming to swell and tighten as she fought to find the zipper. 

“Get this off of me, I can save him. GET IT OFF.” 

 

Steve turned her in his hold. Held her face firmly between his hands and forced her to look at him. 

“I know,” he said. “I know it hurts.  _ Believe me. _ But Sutton, think. If you do this, how much pain do you think he’ll be in? How do you think we’ll get to him? Do you want him to suffer only for us to not be able to rescue him?” 

“I can undo it. I can move the building. I can do whatever I want! Why are you trying to stop me? Let go!”

His hands left her face only to pin her arms to her side as she thrashed some more. 

“Don’t make his sacrifice in vain, Sutton,” he said. “Don’t do that to him.” 

 

Her hands and feet were numb. Someone had taken a knife to her insides. It was hard to breathe. 

Dust continued to settle and float in the air as she stared at the heap of rubble that was left. Waited a few more seconds just in case. Because he was Tony Stark. Iron Man. He could do anything. He always had to pull through. 

But there was only the thunder of more destruction in the distance. The faint sound of a firefight that rang in her aching ears. 

“No.” Her voice was scratched. It felt like she was gargling jagged rocks. “No, no, no. Please no.”

She wailed, her body going limp, and Steve made sure she didn’t fall. Sutton gripped the rough canvas of his suit until it felt like her fingers would bleed. 

“Why,” she cried out. “Why would he do that?” 

Steve hugged her tighter. 

“Because he loved you.”    
  


It only made her cry harder. 

 

But she wasn’t allowed time to break down. To keen until her voice was raw and and eyes running dry. Steve began pulling her along. 

“We have to go,” he said. “I’m sorry, but we have to keep moving. They’re too close. It’s not safe.”

Steve pulled her away; Sutton felt nothing. 

 

_ “This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t the next part.” _

 

But the smoking remains of the building still settled and stood dark behind her. Piles and piles of concrete and rebar. A residual groan as if the very steel beams were lamenting. 

 

For the first time in a long time Sutton felt sharp, shooting pains in her heart. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW. I KNOW. This was painful ok!? If you're upset you can yell at me, but please don't stop reading! I swear I have a plan! You just have to keep going. I love you. You're all wonderful. Please put down your Nerf guns.


	21. Chapter 21

Sutton was lead away, even if she wasn’t fully aware of it. She knew her legs were moving, because she could feel the pressure and sharp pains, but the world was hazy. Shapes were blurry and tilting in the distance. There was a loud, high ringing in her ears. She couldn’t focus on any one thing.

Tony. 

 

_ Tony. _

 

She choked on another sob and Steve squeezed her shoulder tighter. 

“Come on; just a bit farther.” 

 

Sutton didn’t even notice the change in environment until it was so dark that she couldn’t see at all. Blinking, she stumbled and fell further into Steve’s side. 

“Careful,” he said lowly; gently. “We’re underground now. In the subway tunnels.” 

She swallowed in an attempt to speak. Her voice was hoarse and gritty. 

“Why?”  
“The team is pulling back for the night. At this point we’re just doing more harm than good. And we could use the break. All of us.” 

They stopped along a wall and Sutton slid down it, sinking to her knees as she continued to hiccup. 

“How?” She croaked. “How did you keep going?”

Steve sat down next to her but remained silent. He put an arm around her shoulder and tugged her close. Sutton wrapped her arms around his waist and curled her fingers into his back as she broke out in more heaving tears. 

The ringing in her ears had died down enough that she could hear her own crying as it echoed down the tunnel. It was haunting in the darkness. She felt eviscerated. Empty. 

 

“Will I wake up from this one too,” she asked, voice muffled by his suit. “Please. Please tell me this is just another warning. Another nightmare.”

Steve breathed into her hair and held her closer. A couple of wet drops hit her hair and sank down to her scalp. 

“I wish…. I wish.”    


Time was meaningless as it passed. Sutton felt none of it. All she knew was that her chest hurt, her stomach was in knots, and her eyes burned. But she’d take all of that forever if it took away the horrid jumble in her mind. She’d gladly live in misery if it meant undoing what had been done. 

At some point there was a multitude of footsteps that bounced off the concrete walls and let them know people were coming. Steve loosened his hold, but Sutton didn’t flinch. Her eyes were stuck unblinking and staring into the darkness. 

If she didn’t move, didn’t think, then she couldn’t feel. 

 

“Well, this has been a crappy day,” Clint announced. His voice reverberated loudly from the walls; his hearing aids must not have been working. A faint light flickered through the space, illuminating a small circle where the incoming group was. A glow stick or something. 

 

Steve stiffened then gave her shoulder one last squeeze before standing. 

“Where’s Tony?” Rhodey’s voice rose up as he stepped out of his suit and Sutton flinched. She couldn’t look. She shouldn’t leave Steve to tell them on his own, but she couldn’t get up. There was a thick, stifling silence and she could hear Steve take in a ragged breath. 

“He-he didn’t-”  
“No.” Rhodey cut him off. “No, man, no.” 

 

That set the group off. Sutton couldn’t see Steve’s face, but it must have said all they needed to know. She curled further around her knees as the cries rang out. It hurt too much. It made it too real. 

Shock and disbelief and  _ pain _ . 

 

They were a team. A family. And now they’d lost one of their own.

 

The chatter that had echoed in the tunnel died with a stinging ferocity. There were murmurs and choked noises. Rhodey walked further into the darkness of the tunnel by himself. Sutton watched him go through a curtain of curls that hid her face. 

Tony died saving her. 

Tony  _ died _ saving  _ her.  _

 

Why. Why would he do that to her. He  _ knew _ . He knew she’d hold onto that forever and- 

A hand on her shoulder ripped her from her thoughts. Sutton looked up to find Nat kneeling next to her. Nat’s own face was ashen and tight, her lips pressed together and jaw tense, as she looked Sutton in the eyes. Sutton had only seen a flash of that face before. Earlier, in the truck when they’d told her about Fury. 

Sutton shook and held onto Nat’s hand; Nat pressed her lips more tightly together, if that were possible. 

“You’ve lost two people now,” Sutton managed to say. “I’m-I’m sorry.” 

Her face twisted, as if what Sutton said only hurt her more, and she shook her head.

“I know you want to grieve,  _ we all do _ , but we have to get through this first. Avenge him.” 

It felt like her throat pinched shut as cold seeped through her. Sutton clenched her hands into fists at her sides; her tongue rolled around behind her teeth as she worked to speak.

“Get me out of this suit,” she said, “and I’ll finish it right here.” 

“You know that’s not an option right now.”

“It could be our only option! I can do it. Right now I feel like- like-” 

Nat’s grip on her shoulder tightened. 

“Like you could burn it all down? Rip the world apart if someone just gave you the go-ahead? Maybe you actually could. But we still need this planet and you said he can track you without the suit on. We can’t afford to make mistakes in this fight.”

The anger was freezing. It iced over her limbs and insides and made her skin prickle with gooseflesh. She placed her hand on the arc reactor over her heart. Felt the hum and the small bit of warmth that the core produced. 

“He wouldn’t want anyone else to get hurt on his behalf,” Steve spoke up. Sutton’s fingers dug around the reactor ring. 

Of course he wouldn’t.

 

She still wanted to rage.

 

Instead she fell back against the wall and bit her tongue. 

“I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

The tunnel went quiet again, except Sutton thought she could hear muffled crying from the direction Rhodey had gone. 

She looked back into the darkness and watched as the shadows flickered and leapt up from the corners where her mind tried to fill in the void. There was more shuffling from the group. Then Thor’s somber voice. 

“Where should I put him?”

Her head snapped back around. 

Thor stood with the Doctor in his arms, the Doctor’s limbs spilling out of Thor’s hold. He was clearly unconscious and his hair was standing on end in some places, but his chest was expanding as he breathed. Sutton felt another stab of anxiety. 

“Here,” Clint said with a gesture towards the wall, a few feet from Sutton. “Still hasn’t woken up?”

“No,” said Thor. Sutton signed the response without thinking, touching her first two fingers to her thumb. Clint was busy reading Thor’s lips. 

“Not a good sign.”

 

Thor laid the Doctor in the designated spot. Sutton kept her eyes on him. The Doctor wasn’t untouchable either. 

Some of the ice inside her thawed, only to her coat her with a crawling guilt. 

How many people would be hurt on her behalf? How many before Thanos stopped being a threat? 

 

Granola bars and water were passed around. Sutton didn’t know where they’d come from and didn’t ask. She sipped at the water but picked at the oats, flicked bits of the bar and a few raisins out into the darkness. 

“You can’t do this again.”

Steve was sat next to her once more. It eased some of the tension in her; filled her with some comfort. Some small measure of false safety. But she’d take it. 

“I don’t like raisins,” she said dully. Steve’s hand covered hers as he stopped her from throwing another another bit of her meal. 

“Yes you do. And I know you’re not hungry, but eat anyway. If you want to keep fighting, you have to be strong enough to move.”

There was no fight _ in her _ . She was tired. She ate the rest of the bar without argument. It tasted like ash. 

 

Thor took the first watch while the rest tried to sleep. Sutton didn’t want to close her eyes. All of her nightmares were at the forefront of her mind. She knew what she’d see if she slept and she couldn’t handle that. 

Steve’s army days were evident as he immediately fell asleep, quite literally, at the end of a sentence. He ended up sinking down until his head was effectively in her lap. Sutton ran her fingers through his hair absently as she zoned out. She could feel the grit and sweat clinging to his hair, but she wasn’t any better off. 

Water dripped onto the concrete in dull, rhythmic  _ thips _ . A skittering sounded briefly, small claws on the hard ground; there was quiet, sometimes hitching, breathing. But otherwise it was silent. Sutton focused on Steve’s breaths and the drops of water to stave off the oppressing silence. Her eyes burned and her body ached sharply. Every time she blinked she saw Tony’s face. The determination that made his expression grim and hard, the flickering grimace of acceptance. 

She whimpered quietly but quickly swallowed it down. Thor turned his head in her direction and his jaw ticked as he took a deep breath. 

“Tony was an admirable man,” he said. “I know that he was especially fond of you.”

Sutton pressed her lips together and nodded, but she couldn’t quite force herself to respond.

 

“I wish that I could say the pain leaves you,” he continued. “But I’ve found it only dulls at best.”

It was still too fresh. Sutton bit her lip and nodded again. Her fingers curled through Steve’s hair again as she scratched at his scalp. They needed to talk about something else. 

“I- Loki- He’s alive, you know.”

Thor stiffened, his shoulders going rigid, as he looked at her directly. 

“What?”  
“I’ve seen him. He’s-he’s scared, I think.” She sniffed and shook her head. “Sorry, I just- I thought you should know.”

Thor’s fist went almost white as he gripped the handle of Mjolnir. 

“He’s here,” he asked.

“I don’t know. He’s been popping in and out.”

He seemed like he was about to ask more questions, but studied her face and stopped himself. Instead he nodded and loosened his clenched hand. 

“Thank you for telling me.” His gaze shifted and landed on the bag glued at her side. “You have it still?”   
  


Sutton nodded and moved to reach for it but Thor waved for her to stop. 

“Keep it with you for now. It is safer away from the fighting.”

It made some sense, though it just meant that they really did expect her to stay out of the way. 

Her gaze fluttered over the Doctor as the conversation pittered out. His skin was ashy even in the dim light with some patches of red, most likely from burns. His clothes, too, were worse for wear. The jacket was torn at one sleeve and some seams were fraying. 

How long had it been since the event at the ring?

 

_ I don’t need him. Just his ship. _

 

Sutton winced as Khan’s words floated back. She hated that she’d even remembered them. But could they really do this without the Doctor? He seemed to understand the process more than anyone else. Regardless, he needed to be ok. No one else- 

She halted her train of thought and rested her head against the cold wall. Her mind felt like it was swimming as she fought to stay awake. A wave of dizziness would rush through her every time she blinked rapidly and shook her head. Her fingers in Steve’s hair slowed to a stop as she waged war against unconsciousness. Just once, she made the mistake of blinking too slowly. 

[]

_ Smoke, concrete, booming laughter _ .  _ Sutton felt heat. A force pressed down around her. From the darkness a shadow emerged, wide and shifting. Her legs twitched but she couldn’t move, her feet were glued to the floor. The shadow lurched forwards until it was right in front of her. Towering over her; she saw teeth as it smiled.  _

_ The shadow thrust its hand into her chest and ripped out her heart. It beat, bright red against dark fingers, and Sutton spluttered.  _

_ “It was dead. It was dead.”  _

_ The shadow closed its fist and the heart crumbled to ash. Sutton choked as the air left her lungs.  _

 

[]

 

“ _ Wa-how! _ That was something!” 

 

Sutton lurched where she sat and Steve quickly swiveled to his feet as the amplified cry rang through the tunnels. 

She blinked, her eyes feeling gritty and dry, as she turned towards the noise. Her skin was clammy and the pain and pull in her muscles was worse than it had been before she accidentally fell asleep. Sutton winced with the effort of sitting up straighter. 

The Doctor was awake. He was sitting up feeling around his face and limbs as if to make sure they were all still there and whole. His yell had woken everyone up and there were some collective, relieved murmurings that he had pulled through. 

Steve put a supportive hand at her back as she groaned and tried to shift to her knees. Her legs were on fire and her back screamed. Still, she made eye contact with the Doctor and pressed her lips together in relief. 

“You’re ok.”

The Doctor smiled. 

“I-” 

 

His expression flickered before he could finish and his pupils dilated and constricted in quick succession. 

“Doctor?” The group moved in at Sutton’s wary tone and the Doctor blinked. His eyes roved around the still dark tunnel, growing wider and more concerned the more he took in. 

“Doctor,” Steve said, his tone even, “you were unconscious. We retreated underground to rest.” 

“Wh-I was unconscious,” the Doctor said, “and you dragged me down to the tubes? Not the hospital? Who are you people?”

An icy chill raced down Sutton’s back. She cut her eyes to Steve and he wore a tight expression. 

Nat and Clint moved closer, uneasily curious, and the Doctor scooted back as he saw the group forming. Sutton reached out a hand. 

“Hey, Doctor, what’s wrong?”

The Doctor grimaced, a flash of irritation crossing his features. 

“Is now really the time for that,” he asked. “My name is Matt and I’d like to know what I’m doing here.” 

 

Sutton frowned and pulled back her hand; the blood pooled in her stomach. 

 

“Matt,” she questioned. She squinted in confusion before ice shards raced through her limbs. “Matt... _ Smith _ ?”

“Yes. Of course. Is this,” his voice rose higher, “is this a kidnapping?”

“A what,” asked Clint. Nat shifted. 

“Kidnapping,” she said slowly. Clint huffed. 

“If we were kidnapping him he’d be tied up, wouldn’t he?”

 

The statement didn’t seem to bring the Doctor any comfort. He attempted to shuffle back further until he noticed Thor behind him, blocking the tunnel exit.

“What is wrong with him,” Thor asked. The Doctor gaped. 

“Wait a second. I recognize all of you. What’s-”

He stopped again and blinked, his pupils spasming. They were all silent as he shifted on the balls of his feet and looked once more around the dim tunnel. 

“Oh dear,” he finally said. “That’s a bit  _ not good _ isn’t it.”

Sutton put a shaking hand over her mouth as she tried to figure out what had happened. He looked lucid, he sounded like himself again, but,  _ oh lord, _ he hadn’t been. 

“What just happened,” asked Nat. She eased back now that the Doctor had settled and angled herself next to Clint. 

“I would like to know that as well,” said Thor. 

 

The Doctor took a moment to fully come back to himself. He noted the poor condition of his suit and flexed his fingers at his side. 

“The universal barriers are starting to collide,” the Doctor said. He paused as if to collect his thoughts. It was bad, growing worse, given the seriousness with which he spoke. A few more drops of water fell against the concrete in the background. Sutton slid her face into her hand and clenched her eyes shut. 

“As the walls continue to  _ smash  _ into one another and universes meld, parallel doppelgangers may possibly connect. It was only a theory I had until, well, just now.”

Sutton let her face rest in her hand a moment longer. Her mind was blank and the others were quiet as they too processed this new development. She finally lifted her gaze and leveled it at the Doctor.

“How long do we have,” she asked. Her voice was still rough and gravelly. “How  long until it’s beyond fixing?”

The Doctor looked unsure, he wobbled his head side to side as he mentally deliberated. 

“Not long. Certainly not _ months _ . Even if the boundaries aren’t exasperated  further, I doubt there’d be more than a month at most. That dimensional rift he has, I’m not sure he fully understands what it would do. If he’d popped you in there instead, well, it’d be  _ game over _ as you all say.” 

“Are you telling me,” said Nat, “that the only thing that kept the world from ending yesterday was a misunderstanding?” The Doctor grinned. 

“Funny how those work to an advantage sometimes.”

“And Tony,” Sutton mumbled, a broken bitterness seeping into her tone. A beat of silence pulsed through the space. 

There was a sinking in her chest. He was gone. She’d fallen asleep and woken up and it was still real. Everything in her shattered all over again. It was almost worse. 

 

“So sealing those walls is a top priority.”

She stiffened at Rhodey’s voice. It was the first time he’d spoken since he’d- he’d been told. She knew enough to recognize someone distracting themselves with a mission. Channeling grief into a dogged determination.

She should be doing the same. If no one else got a chance to- If not even  _ Rhodey _ \- well, then why should she? 

She swallowed and attempted to shove all her emotions down. Deep down and pressed into a tight ball in her chest. 

There were universes falling apart. 

There was work to do.

 

“Wait a moment,” the Doctor said. “Where  _ is _ -”

Thor placed a hand on the Doctor’s shoulder and shook his head and Sutton turned away. Both Steve and Nat were eyeing her with a melancholy wariness. She clenched her teeth.

“Do we have a way to get back to the airport without being seen?”

 

[]

 

The team decided to try and use the tunnels to move a bit further through the city unseen. However, it wasn’t a walk in the park. The glow stick had finally faded out and it was pitch black. All of the power for the city must have been knocked out, or at least large chunks of it. Even the emergency lights weren’t working. They had to keep along the wall and feel for the dropping edge. At least they didn’t have to worry about the subway running. 

They made it a few blocks before Rhodey shot open a maintenance door and they crawled their way back to the surface. The subway station was dark, eerily empty, and hauntingly quiet. Sutton hadn’t ever seen a subway station actually vacant before. If there were people hiding underground, they were hidden behind corners and in shadows. They probably didn’t want anything to do with the Avengers. 

Once back on street level, Sutton lost her breath all over again. The city was practically leveled. There was still smoke rising into the pale morning sky and the faint sound of sirens in the distance. Emergency vehicles wouldn’t have any luck getting through, however. There was so much rubble and debris on the roads that they were inaccessible. Perhaps some military grade tank could push through, but there were none around. 

 

Without many tall buildings to obstruct the view, the ring could still be easily seen, floating and waiting for another chance to run. Not seen was Thanos and his cronies. Perhaps that should have been a relief, but Sutton’s skin crawled all the same. It felt like when you lose a spider in your room. Not knowing where it was only made it worse. Only in this case the spider was an abnormally large, murderous abomination that was probably waiting in your bed for you to go to sleep. 

 

They kept silent as they moved through the city. Compared to the previous day everything was still and quiet. Sutton fell to the back of the group, her legs threatening to give out conditioned or not. Climbing over the destruction was a strain on already sore limbs and her entire body felt like a giant bruise. She kept one hand on the satchel at her side. There was an underlying fear that if she wasn’t in contact with it, if she stopped remembering it for more than a minute, it might somehow disappear.

“There’s a problem,” Nat murmured from the front of the group. She placed a hand on Clint’s shoulder and repeated herself. Her hands moved as she used, what wasn’t ASL, but probably some military hand signals that Clint would understand the gist of. 

“We’ve got almost thirty miles to cover. That’s a lot of space for a potential ambush.” 

“We need a vehicle,” said Steve. “I’m not sure everyone is up for walking that.”

Nat half-heartedly smirked. The look only made Sutton feel emptier. 

“At least we know someone who can hotwire a car.”

“Good luck finding one that runs,” said Sam. 

 

With roads uprooted and some sections collapsed, it didn’t look promising. Which seemed an odd notion given how many cars Sutton had thought there were on the roads before. But then again, that was before. 

Steve glanced back at her and the Doctor and grimaced. 

“We don’t have a choice.”

Sutton eyed the sky as anxiety continued to fester. She touched the satchel at her side again. 

“Where’d they go? They wouldn’t just… stop looking for us.”

 

Everyone’s eyes swept up momentarily and Rhodey’s lip twitched in a snarl. 

“Probably terrorizing another city, thinking we got out of dodge.” 

“We can’t count on that,” said Nat. “The sooner we get under cover the better.”

“The sooner,” the Doctor panted, “we get  _ those walls repaired _ , the better.” 

 

Sutton reached behind her neck and blindly groped for the zipper pull.  _ Tony _ had designed the suit so it almost melded to a smooth finish and the opening was hard to locate. She found it just as they reached a pile of concrete they’d be forced to climb over, and her breathing hitched. 

The rest of the group attempted to start scaling the obstacle and Steve stopped at the base to see if she was coming. Her feet were frozen and her shoulders and jaw ached with tense pains. 

“Sutton, we have to go.”

 

It wasn’t the same spot. It wasn’t the same building. But she still couldn’t tear her eyes away from it. 

“Sutton, come on. You can do this.”

She shook her head and turned away, her lungs catching. 

“We just- we just left him,” she said. “We just left him there all alone. How-  _ how  _ am I supposed to- to tell  _ Pepper? _ ” 

“We didn’t have a choice,” Steve said. He approached her again like she some wounded animal, capable to lash out at the smallest provocation. “We have to keep going. We need  _ you _ .” 

“There was concrete in my dream too,” she said. “I should have known. I had- _ like this.”  _ She gestured towards the rubble. “I climbed over it and- and at the bottom-” 

 

The team: dead. Bloodied with pale faces. What if it was an ambush? What if every move they made was a mistake?

He reached out a hand, and Sutton grabbed it, pulling herself closer instead of running away. Steve held the back of her head as she took a couple of deep breaths to steady herself. 

“His- the last thing he told me, was to- to tell  _ Pepper _ -” 

“I know,” he said. He smelled like sweat and smoke. Sutton swallowed back the bitter taste of bile and listened to his heartbeat. He’d been fighting all day yesterday. Taking hits and probably falling more than she had. And Tony was his friend too. 

 

She knew he was hurting. She also knew he never put himself first. He would internalize it, push it away, until the job was done. And probably for longer after. 

She couldn’t be so weak. She couldn’t let him be so much of a crutch. It was selfish. 

 

Sutton managed to straighten and tugged at the high collar of her suit. 

“I’m sorry,” she said. “He’s- he was your friend too. And I- I know I’m not- I’m not going to be even alright for a _ while _ . But, I’m also here for you. Ok?”

Steve was quiet a moment, his jaw twisting as he rolled his tongue around his mouth. 

“Yeah,” he said. 

Sutton looked back at the concrete pile and her stomach dropped out again. She stiffened her upper lip. 

“Will you walk with me?”

 

He took her hand. 

“Let’s go.”

 

They made their way up and over together. 


	22. Chapter 22

There was nothing on the other side of the rubble but more debris and the awaiting team. Each crack and clattering chunk of concrete felt like walking over a gave. Sutton had to grip Steve's hand tightly as bile splashed at the back of her throat. Steve just murmured encouragement.

_Just another step. One at a time._

One more and one more, until they were finally over and back down on semi-level road.

They tried to find a working vehicle as they kept going. Steve rummaged around under the dashboards of any less damaged car they came across, but so far the three he'd tried wouldn't start.

She could  _believe_ them into working, if she could get the suit off.

Sutton tugged on the cuffs of her suit. The material was starting to chafe and she could feel the layers of dirt and sweat as it rubbed against her skin. Maybe, maybe if they hurried and got the universes stable, they'd have a spare moment. A bit of time to really regroup and collect themselves. To shower. To mourn.

It was a surprise to see some people were still sprinkled through the city streets. The ones who weren't as injured were trying to tend to others. Some dug through the heaps of rubble in a search for survivors. There wasn't much that the team could do for them and it hurt to just keep going despite all the carnage. Everything in her screamed at her to stop and help. But the universes were still collapsing on each other. The destruction would grow worse and more people would be hurt.

Sutton reminded herself of the goal.

The idea of the many over the few was a sour thought and she'd never liked it. It wasn't so great if you ended up being one of the few. She hoped that those they did pass would be okay. Hoped that more help would come and maybe they'd be better off with all the Avengers out of the city.

How did Steve manage through World War II? How did Natasha still have a quirky sense of humor after the Red Room? The team had so much collective loss, Sutton's chest was imploding and she'd only gone through this.

Maybe most of all, the silence was unsettling. The city had never been so quiet. It was unnatural. The sound of running cars was completely absent and the rustling shuffle of people was at a bare minimum. Sometimes there was the tinkling of falling glass shards or the scrape of metal on road, but little else.

"Someone has been tailing us," Nat said as they rounded another block. Tense postures tightened; they shifted into a circular formation and luckily had enough people to cover all directions.

"How long," asked Rhodey.

"A few blocks at least. They've been keeping their distance."

"If it was one of Thanos', I think they'd have attacked by now," said Steve.

"Could be a civilian," added Sam. Nat shook her head.

"They're too careful for a civilian."

Sutton eyed Nat's expression and then glanced behind her at the empty road. Nat was wary. She didn't like it when Nat was uneasy.

It would be infinitely helpful if they found a car that actually worked.

There was no scuffling or other suspicious noises as they stood and listened, so they had little choice but to carry on. The person would either attack or they wouldn't, and hopefully they had the advantage in numbers alone. She hoped whoever it was, that they were smart enough not to try anything.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Sutton announced as they continued on. The group

tittered to a stop again and looked around. They hadn't made it out of downtown yet. There were still plenty of broken, accessible stores around them. A sandwich shop was a few doors down and she gestured towards it.

"I'll just be a second."

"Wait," Steve called. "What about your suit?"

Sutton flinched, her hand running over the slick material on her sleeve, before she turned and offered a strained smile.

"I'll be fast."

"Dude, not like she has a choice," said Sam.

She hustled into the shop before anyone else could question her.

Stepping over broken glass and scattered shop supplies, she made her way inside. Strewn paper cups, crushed napkins, and scattered vegetable matter were pasted to the walls and smeared over the floor. It was quiet, the only noise being her own shoes crunching glass as she made her way to the back and towards the one available bathroom.

It looked relatively untouched, comparatively, with only a few cracks in the floors and a knocked over trash can. Sutton leaned against the door and pressed her hands against the cool metal. It was silent. She kicked the door a few times with her heel and hummed under her breath.

There was a yelp from somewhere in the shop that sent Sutton jumping; her heart rate steadily rose as her adrenaline kicked in.

"Please don't kill me," a voice called out. "Please, I just worked here. Take whatever!"

She panted with a hand over her reactor and forced herself to come down from the ceiling. It was the cracking, reedy voice of a teenager and obviously laced with as much panic as it had just induced in her.

"I just need your bathroom," she called back. There was a pause.

"Is it safe?" Sutton closed her eyes.

"Probably not."

"Are they gone?"  
"Kinda."

"Is it over?"  
"I don't think so."

"Do you know  _anything_?"

"Dude." Sutton warned. She clenched her fingers against the door and blew some hair out of her face. "Go in the opposite direction of the DC airport."

"Why?"  
"Because that's where the Avengers are headed."

"Are you with- they're-  _oh crap_."

There was some cursing and the sound of stacked cups tumbling onto the ground. Footsteps rushed over crackling glass and out the side door. The shop was silent once again.

Her hands flitted up to the collar of her suit, fingers fumbling and shaking as she reached for the zipper.

Her stomach rolled as she grasped the pull. She took a couple deep breaths, then yanked down.

Cool air hit her back and felt like heaven. And then the cool air clung to her clammy skin and reminded her of how miserable the suit was becoming. How much it didn't let her breathe. The energy was what hit her next. It was obvious after it'd been absent for so long. Sutton let the rush settle a moment before continuing on.

The gauze around her thigh was heavy and sticky with blood. Sutton carefully peeled it off and tossed the soiled wrapping in the trash can. The sonic screwdriver had done what the Doctor said. The wound was closed, though the skin was paler in that spot and puckered slightly. There were thin lines that reached out from the main spot like the rays of a sun. She glanced over it all with a stoic eye before dismissing it.

She did her business, since she was already there and had a moment, but didn't immediately zip the suit up afterwards. She really,  _really_ should.

Just going to the bathroom was enough of a risk. But that wasn't why she'd made the excuse. It was too late to back out now. They needed this.

_The next time they tried to get a car running, it would work. The car would start and they'd be able to make some real progress._

A familiar tingling rush flowed through her and Sutton fumbled again with the zipper, hurrying to seal the suit once more and cut herself off. But the zipper stopped halfway up and Sutton bit her lip. Hard.

Tony.

The muscles in her legs quivered and her hand fell to the wall to hold herself up.

There was so much- she could-

Her vision blacked out. A terrible rush blazed through her, disjointed and almost ghostly, yet still managed to shake her very bones. There was a flash of blue.

Sutton gasped and stopped thinking about Tony.

The bathroom came back into focus and she shifted as it settled in her vision. A minute passed, two, and Sutton didn't move. She rose a shaking hand up to her nose, but there was no blood. Relief and despair collided and warred in her chest.

She didn't let herself think or give herself a chance to change her mind. The zipper rushed the rest of the way up her back and she fled the bathroom.

The team began moving as she emerged from the shop and she briefly glanced at all of them before joining back in.  
"You good," asked Nat. Sutton nodded, averting her gaze to the Doctor, who was still shuffling weakly and looked peakish.

"Yeah. But we should really get a car. He doesn't look so good."

"If we can get one to work," muttered Sam. Sutton's jaw ticked.

"We will."

Several people eyed her oddly, but she stared resolutely ahead and began limping forwards.

"That's the spirit," encouraged the Doctor, his voice breathy. "Positivity is half the battle."

The next car Steve hotwired rumbled instantly to life, despite the semi-crushed hood. Clint felt the vibrations along the body of the car and clapped his hands then gave them a thumbs up.

"Alright! Let's get the heck out of dodge."

There was a chorus of agreement, though Steve did grace her with one more suspicious glance. Sutton ignored it. However she might've reacted normally wasn't currently worth the effort.

"Don't get me wrong," Thor spoke up. "Your Midgardian cars are adorable and fairly convenient, but I believe there might not be enough room for all of us."

He wasn't exactly wrong. With Steve, Nat, Rhodey, Sam, Clint, Thor, the Doctor,  _and_  Sutton, anything short of an SUV wasn't going to cut it. Which this vehicle, being a compact four door, wasn't.

"Try another," Sutton urged, voice sharp. "We can take two. We need to hurry."

"You're in a rush," Nat said. Sutton didn't attempt to mask her flare of anxiety; trying to hide it always got her caught.

"The universes are still collapsing," she said. "We should all be in a little bit of a rush." Nat studied her, then canted her head in acquiesce.

The universes were colliding and Sutton had just used her ability, essentially sending out a beacon to their whereabouts. They  _needed_ to leave the area.

A crash down the street caught all of their attention and Sutton's stomach knotted. It sounded like someone had thrown something through a window. A silence followed that was unnatural. Like every creature and inanimate object knew drawing attention, making noise, was a horrifying idea. They waited. And then, from the silence, came a growing growling intercut by screeching and her blood ran cold.

"Not those things again," lamented Sam.

"What," questioned Clint, loudly. "What is it?"  
" _Shh!"_ The group hushed him as one and Clint had never looked so insulted.

"Deaf guy over here. Aren't you supposed to keep them in the loop?" He directed the question at Sutton and she let out a frightened huff. She curled her hands into claws and brought them up to her face, making an exaggerated growling expression. Clint rolled his eyes.

"Well all you had to do was  _say so_."

The noises were louder, getting more distinct, and Sutton's gaze snapped to the forms of struggling civilians as her breathing picked up. She remembered. Remembered what those things did to people.

"You don't need all of us to get back to that box," Rhodey said.

" _TARDIS,_  actually," the Doctor corrected with a strained wheeze. Rhodey continued on

without acknowledging the interruption.

"Flyers, with me. Clint, we could use those long range shots."

Clint tilted his head at Rhodey's pointed finger aimed at him, then looked back at his quiver.

"Running a bit low," he replied. "But maybe I can collect a few used ones."

Nat tugged on Sutton's arm to move her towards the car as Steve shoved his shield in the back before he jumped into the driver's seat. The Doctor climbed into the back of the car as Sutton threw one last look back at those staying behind.

"We're splitting up," she questioned. "Do you know what happens when groups split up!"  
"Wrong genre," said Nat. "Get in the car."

"This  _doesn't_ feel like a horror film to you?"

Nat just shoved her into the car and moved around to the front passenger seat. The car peeled out on the loose asphalt and sped away as dark silhouettes of the alien beasts rounded the block.  
Sutton whipped around to stare out of the window, her eyes wide as she kept them trained on the group they were leaving behind. She hated everything about this. Anyone in the group could handle themselves, she knew that, but for how long? How long until fatigue sank in for all of them?

No.  _No._ They'd be fine. All she had to do was make sure the universes were stable again, and then she'd rip off the suit no matter who protested and take Thanos down herself if she had to.

The team shrank into dark figures that finally disappeared as Steve struggled to maneuver the car over broken road.

It was hard to look at the devastated city without her chest tightening and gut churning. Every collapsed building challenged the clamped down control over her emotions. It didn't help that there was a tense, fragile silence in the car. The Doctor was abnormally unchatty and still didn't look to be out of the woods, his skin sallow and expression pinched. Sutton tried to say something, maybe ask how he felt or tell him things would be ok, but the words wouldn't come. She closed her mouth and remained quiet.

Traveling by car was only marginally easier than foot, but they made their way from the city and back to the highway towards the airport. The further they got the more intact the road was. Proxima and Corvus must not have traveled in that direction.

Sutton felt lava in her veins thinking their names. Her eyes grew hot and she curled her fingers tightly into her palms. They killed- _killed-_ ; her thoughts were white hot flashes, a burning panic that threatened to flare up again. She bit her lip harshly and curled further into the seat.

She only had to wait until they patched the universes up. Just until then.

"Hey," Steve said. "Why's a pretty girl like you crying?  _I'm_  here and there's plenty to go around."

Nat stiffened in her chair and Sutton looked up sharply. Steve glanced back in the rearview mirror and winked. His eyes were wrong. There was too much of a glimmer in them. A cheekiness that was wildly inappropriate for their situation. Sutton swallowed and licked her lips.

"Steve?"

"Johnny, actually, but you can call me Steve if you want to."

Sutton lurched forward in her seat, the seat belt strap clutched in her fists.

"Steve? Steve, come on. Don't do this."

Nat shared a look with her, worry pinching her brows.

The car swerved as Steve realized he was driving and his expression shifted to one of surprised concentration as he straightened the vehicle. Everyone grabbed at their emergency handles and Steve let out a tight laugh.

"Whoops. Don't think I've blacked out like this in awhile. Don't even remember drinking to be honest. Who gave me keys?"

"Steve," Nat said sharply, "focus. This isn't you."

The Doctor murmured quietly next to Sutton.

"This isn't a good sign," he said. "There's too much pressure on too many weak spots."

Sutton couldn't worry about that at the moment. Her reactor buzzed and she splintered even more than she'd thought possible. Reaching out a hand, she grabbed his shoulder and squeezed tightly.

"Please, Steve.  _Please._ I need you. I can't-"

"Whoa, hey, let's just chi-"

Sutton's fingers dug further into his shoulder as he blinked and shook his head. The car swerved again and she hissed as her bruises were jostled.

"Sutton?"

He looked back in the rearview mirror, eyes darker. Heavier. Everyone let out a breath of relief; Sutton's forehead dropped against the back of Steve's chair. He stiffened under her fingers, his shoulders going as taut as Clint's bowstring and Sutton wrapped her free arm over his torso.

"You're okay," she murmured. "You're back. You're okay."

"Who," asked Steve. "Who  _was that_?"  
Nat's gaze shifted to Sutton.

"Johnny?" She hedged.

"Doesn't matter," Sutton muttered. "He's not you."

She peeked over the seat at Steve's face in the rearview mirror; he looked stricken. His knuckles once again tight on the steering wheel.

"We're fixing it," she reassured. "We're on our way to fix it."

There silence that hung over the car was stickier now, dense like a stormy atmosphere. Sutton's skin crawled at the thoughts of "what if" running through her head.

What if using her ability, even just a little, made things like this worse? What if her friends were permanently lost?

The Doctor's warning came back to her, Ten's warning. It crawled its way up from the almost forgotten recesses of her memory. Her ability  _did_ make the weak walls worse. She'd already weakened the walls of so many universes. Dread only continued to churn and grow.

What if-

"Johnny seemed fond of Sutton," Nat said. Her voice wasn't exactly playful, or, at least, Sutton knew her enough now to know she was playing up a part. "Do you think that just transitioned over, or is this a Hallmark 'across the universes' sort of thing?"

Steve wasn't amused and Sutton cracked a tired, obligated smile. Just because she knew what Nat was trying to do didn't mean she didn't appreciate it.

"Johnny Storm is a playboy," she said. "He just didn't have enough time to see you."

"Johnny  _Storm_ ," Nat emphasized. "Wow, what a name."

"Comic book names are like that."

Nat craned her head back to look at her with one brow highly arched; Sutton shrugged.

"Captain America wasn't Chris Evans' first super role."

Before, she might've elaborated and rambled about the movie star or Johnny's character. But that was before her trip through the universes. All that mattered now were her friends and the mission. Keeping them safe. And talking about doppelgangers of himself always seemed to make Steve slightly uneasy.

She didn't blame him.

Her gaze slid back to over to the silent Doctor. There was a fresh twist in her stomach. From what she remembered, this Doctor tended to be more youthful and excitable. Springy. Even after hours of rest, he didn't look any better. He was slumped in his seat and he'd closed his eyes again.

Sutton nudged his leg gently and he peeled an eye open to look at her. She frowned.

"Do you need some tea?"  
The Doctor huffed a light puff of air.

"Not sure even a good earl grey would do much good right now. I'm afraid that machine has muddled my regenerative abilities a bit."

"What does that mean? You can't heal, or you're going to change?"  
His face shifted slightly; it was a quiet look. An appeasing sort of expression. Sutton never liked those.

"We'll have answers once we get to the TARDIS."

Sutton glanced to the front of the car and met eyes with Nat. Nat gave a small shake of her head and glanced at the Doctor before she faced forward once more. Sutton followed the motion and let her gaze flit to the road. There was a dark mass in the distance, light glinted off certain points and sparkled in the sun. Sutton muttered an, ' _oh no'_ , as more and more red lights blinked into existence.

People  _were_ evacuating. En masse. It looked like the entire city had managed to leave at once and cars stretched out for miles as thousands of desperate people attempted to move out of the destruction. Steve cursed under his breath. They would come to a stop soon. There were actually some people out of their cars, seated on hoods and standing on their vehicles to try and see how far the congestion lasted.

Sutton wondered if they'd even made it halfway to the airport.

Steve slowed the car and Sutton drummed her fingers along the back of his seat. In a few moments they'd be right up behind the mass and stuck like the rest of everyone else. They didn't have the time or energy to walk. Her secret use of power still lingered in the back of her mind.

They needed distance.

"No one is coming  _into_  the city," she said, tone prompting.

Across the median, four empty lanes stretched out before them. Steve cricked his neck to the side and rolled his shoulders.

"Everybody hold on."

He yanked the wheel to the left and the car swerved with a squeal as it jumped up over the grass and crashed through the dividing wires. Sutton swallowed the yelp in her throat as metal snapped and half of their bumper was torn off. The car sounded in even sorrier shape as it landed back on the road and Steve steadied the steering wheel. It sputtered and screeched from the engine, and something dragged behind them. There was a stir from onlookers as their car continued to speed down the road. A few ran to their own vehicles to backup and follow after them.

"I think we just started anarchy," said Sutton.

"Wouldn't be my first time," Nat deadpanned. Sutton knew she wasn't joking.

The Doctor let slip a pained grunt as the car jostled. She was more worried about him than she let show. If Thanos' floating ring was supposed to force her to open doors to other dimensions, what had it done to him? What did that mean for his regeneration?

Were both his hearts still beating?

The asphalt looked like it was boiling ahead of them, rolling and rocking in tandem as a low, guttural moan rose up from the earth. The road visibly rippled under the car. Like one of those parachutes they used in gym class in elementary school. A few buildings in the distance swayed and there was the sound of skidding tires behind them. At least one  _crunch_.

Sutton looked out the back window and reflexively snapped her eyes shut.

A blinding light engulfed several blocks of city and whited out a portion of the skyline. Blue lightning crackled and around the yellow beam and she was struck with an odd sense of déjà vu. Sutton could still see the light with her eyes closed and she had to duck her head behind the seats to try and shield herself from the flare. Steve cursed under his breath.

Loud echos of collapsing metal rang in the air and Sutton's breathing hitched as she curled down smaller into a compact ball, her teeth clenched tight.

Natasha unbuckled and turned completely around in her seat as she stared wide-eyed out the back window. The expression painted over her face was enough for Sutton to know it was bad.

No one said anything, and that was even worse.

Their friends were competent. Their friends were fine. There was no reason to fret over them. Natasha's eyes were still fixed out the rear window; her slightly parted lips slowly met and pressed together as she gripped her seat. Steve didn't stop driving. He turned his head briefly to look at Nat and frowned.

"Nat," he said simply. She broke her stare and met his eyes. They once again had some silent communication and for the first time it irritated Sutton. Her skin felt hypersensitive, like the nerves just underneath were on edge, and her heart felt like it was racing out of control despite that impossibility.

Did they know something she didn't? Why didn't they just  _say it?_  She wasn't a child!

None of them had seen anything, so they couldn't know anything. There was no way to-  _if_  she could only take the suit off. But she couldn't even demand to do that now. Not if this was proof they were waiting for her to do so. That they could locate her even after only a moment.

"We don't know." She managed to grit out. "We don't know anything, so  _stop_ looking at each other like you do." Her voice held an edge despite her even tone and her eyes felt hot. It shouldn't bother her that they exchanged glances. They did it all the time; it never bothered her.

"We're not saying we know-"  
"You're faces say quite a bit." Sutton interrupted Steve. "Neither of you have to say  _anything_."

"You're right." Nat cut in. "We don't."

Usually when she said things like that, Sutton felt like it was a humoring sort of placating statement. But now it was like Nat was trying to agree with her. Trying to believe it.

The road still rolled as the light died down behind them. A moaning earth let loose a few more lingering groans before it faded away. There was a flash in the sky. Color. Greens, purples, and blues flared in a cracked sky. Sutton felt a tugging on her limbs, in her chest, and a sharp pain her her temples. She reached up and felt to make sure the zipper was pulled all the way up.

"Did you all see that too?"

There was a beat of silence as the colors continued to curl and spark through the atmosphere. They were lasting longer this time. Sutton's eyes were locked on their swirling shapes as they reflected in her eyes.

"Yes," said the Doctor. His voice was quiet even in the silent car. "Yes. We can see them."


End file.
